


The Place Where We Met

by Mozanii



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Basically everyone from Iwatobi is female for plot sake (tm), F/M, Fem!Makoto, Romance, fem!Haru, fem!Nagisa, fem!Rei, slight RinRei in some chapters but it's not the main focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-06-10 14:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15293922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mozanii/pseuds/Mozanii
Summary: When Samezuka opens up its doors to  both female and male students, some new recruits join the swim team. When one of those recruits catches Sousuke's eye on the first day of school, he can't help but think about her from that day forward. He falls for her. Despite everyone's warnings, she falls for him too.





	1. nicknames

**Author's Note:**

> What is up you guys? I've been in the Free! fandom since literally episode 1, season 1, but I can't believe I never wrote a fic for this series? For my main man Sousuke??? I'm here to atone for my sins.
> 
> This is also my first F/M fic...and probably my only...so.... here goes nothing lmao

_Yawns._

That was all Sousuke could do on that Monday morning, nevermind the fact that it was also the first day of school of his senior year. Sousuke could only think about the nerve of the Samezuka principal enforcing the opening of school this early, and not to mention, having an assembly on top of that? This is the last place he wanted to be.

“Yo, fix your face. It’s not that bad.” His redheaded friend speaks from beside him, gently kicking his leg. At promptly 6:00 AM, the overhead speakers in all the doors wrung out, quite obnoxiously he might add, an announcement asking all the students to report to the auditorium by 7:30 am. If school was supposed to start at 8:00, how do they even have the _nerve_ to wake him up so early.

Sousuke frowns, “Oi, stop that Rin. I didn’t get enough sleep last night because I was busy unpacking. Besides, I would have gotten it done earlier if this damn school got their act together and let us keep the same rooms we had last year. I don’t get it.” He shifts in his seat before yawning once more.

“A morning person as usual I see.” Rin jokes, causing Sousuke’s frown to deepen even more. “If you keep frowning, your face is going to permanently stay like that. Besides, we get up around this time to go for morning jogs anyways so what’s the big deal?”

Sousuke shoots him an angry glare, “Shut up already, will you?” 

“Fine, Mr.Sunshine. Besides, the principal looks like he’s going to start soon anyways.” Rin laughs off Sousuke’s attempt at a glare, knowing his best friend doesn’t have any malicious intent behind it. They’ve known each for their whole lives, so Rin and Sousuke pretty much know each other’s quirks and personalities. Sure, sometimes they clash and disagree, but they both know at the end of the day, they’ll have each other’s back if it came down to it. 

“Good morning, young men. All rise.” The principal bellows through the mic, causing all the students to simultaneously stand up. 

“Good Morning, sir.” They chant in unison, bowing forward slightly.

The principal gives a light smile at the respectful greeting, “I thank you all for coming to this assembly so early before classes start on the first day. I hope you are all excited for this new upcoming school year as I am. I hope you find successes in both your personal and academic lives for the betterment of yourselves as young, contributing men to our robust society.” 

Sousuke rolls his eyes and sighs, “The same sold bullshit he said last year. He has 364 days to come up with a new speech, but yet recycles the same one each time.” He says it under his breath to no one in particular, but Rin caught his words, causing him to laugh softly. Sousuke tunes out most of the principal’s words until something catches his ear. 

“As you know, the world is progressively changing on a daily basis. New ideas are invented, technologies are advancing, and thus as a people, we are advancing.” He begins, before pausing for a moment. “Here at Samezuka, we also want to keep up with these changes and I hereby want to implement the following changes.”

When the principal pauses to clear his throat, all of the students looked at each, eyes wide and mouths whispering about what potential changes could come. New cafeteria food? New TV’s in the dorms? A new air hockey table? It could be literally anything.

“Starting today, Samezuka Academy will be allowing female students to attend.” The principal blurts, causing a wave of gasping, plus some screams of excitement and pure joy erupting from the older students. The principal clears his throat, “Please, calm down so I can continue gentlemen.”

“Earlier last year, I sent out flyers in this local area to recruit some potential female students that are interested in utilizing the broad amount of technologies and sports facilities we offer here at Samezuka. Starting today, in addition to the boys sports teams, we will also begin to have girls sports teams so our school can compete with other schools in the area and potentially recruit more students of all genders to our wonderful academy. Therefore, we have recruited fine young women to create the following teams: basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, judo, and….” The principal pauses to adjust his glasses, “The swimming club.”

Sousuke and Rin’s mouths both fall agape and they look at each other, wide-eyed and full of astonishment. “What the hell…” They both say in unison. 

Rin especially can’t believe it. After all, he was the captain of the swim club and yet nobody has told him anything. Nobody has even remotely hinted at the addition of a girl’s swimming team, so he knows he will hear a bunch of mouth later from other members of the club. In the back of his mind, he hopes that the women won’t be too distracting to the female attention-starved guys in the swim club. When he thinks of the guys most endangered by the introduction of the female body in the club, two guys come to mind, that damn thirsty Uozumi and that lady-killer Minami. 

Rin sucked his teeth, “Damn, this is gonna be a rough year keeping the guys on track.” He says under his breath, causing Sousuke to laugh.

“You really think so?” Sousuke asks.

Rin frowns, “Of course! These guys have barely had any female interaction for _years_ and now it’s going to be on a daily basis. This is going to mass chaos, madness I tell you!” 

Sousuke continues laughing, turning his attention back to the principal. “Until this first year experiment is over, the women will be living in pairs together in Dorm 1D and 2D on the fourth floor. If all goes well, I will ensure next year’s fiscal budget will allow for the construction of a separate female-only dorm facility.”

“Hey, that’s our building. Oh god, the guys are going to be wild with having a floor full of women right above us.” Rin says, grasping his forehead in his hands.

“Oi stop complaining, it could be fun.” Sousuke says, raising an eyebrow at his devastated friend.

Rin raises an eyebrow right back at him, “It sounds like you have ulterior motives.” Sousuke could only chuckle at his friend’s accusations.

“I’d like to conclude the assembly right here so you all can go to your first classes on time. The female students have just finished getting a tour around the school, so when you go to your first classes, they should already be in the room.” The principal began, pausing when the crowd of boys erupting in cheers and fist bumps.

“-- Also, young gentlemen.” The principal’s voice turns serious, causing everyone to become deafeningly quiet, “I’d like for you all to be on your best behavior. I know this change must be exciting for you, but please be respectful. No harassment. No gestures. No behavior that can interpreted as something malignant.” He warns sternly. 

“Yes sir.” The students bellow in unison, bowing once more before gathering their bookbags and continuing their excited chatter about if there was going to be any cute girls in their classes or joining their sports teams.

“It seems like there are no objections.” Sousuke jokes, causing Rin to chuckle and exhales slowly, “It’s going to a wild year, Sou.”

“Sounds like a bad omen.” Sousuke says, “Sucks our schedules don’t line up, but I’ll see you at lunch?”

Rin gives Sousuke a sympathetic look, “You act like we don’t have swim practice _or_ live in the same dorm room. We’ll be seeing each other everyday whether or not we want to.” 

Sousuke can’t help but laugh, “Yeah, guess you’re right. See ya at lunch.” He gives him the usual fist bump before going their separate ways down the hallways.

/////////////////

Sousuke’s four classes blend together back-to-back with seemingly no break in between. He mindlessly wanders the hallways after each bell rings, looking forward to the end of the day bell. Luckily for him, it was lunchtime and he was going to meet Rin at their designated spot on the roof. But first, he must buy lunch before his stomach implodes on itself with all of the noise it was making.

He nonchalantly enters the bustling cafeteria, eyes glancing around noticing groups of boys surrounding the new groups of girls like vultures on a newly dead carcass. Sousuke chuckles, noticing how the girls have already formed groups, as if they were formed out of protection purposes. He also notices their new uniform design, which is essentially the same as his, but of course, more feminized. The girls dawn a white blazer with black lining, complete with a black blouse underneath with a red ribbon and a matching black skirt. Sousuke thinks it’s a cute design, but perhaps, for the worse of all the boys’ hormones that were absolutely raging at the moment.

Sousuke wanders mindlessly to the food line, grabbing a tray of pork cutlet and throwing a bottle of water on it. “Ah, so hungry…” He says to nobody in particular, but his attention is quickly drawn to a person beside him that snickered softly.

“You’ve come to the right place then.” A soft voice says from beside him. Sousuke looks down next to him and sees a smaller girl with long, raven-black hair with nothing but rice, mackerel, and a bowl of miso soup on her tray. She looks as if she was concentrating heavily on which drink to choose. 

Sousuke hums a bit, “Hmm…?” He inflects.

“If you’re hungry, then you’re in the right place.” The girl repeats, emotions absent from her face. The girl finally met his gaze, her eyes piercing blue eyes meeting his slightly sleepy teal gaze. Sousuke thinks her eyes are absolutely beautiful. In a way, it reminds him of the ocean and he feels an urge to swim suddenly. She only looks at him for a brief moment though, before quickly reverting her eyes back to the food.

Sousuke chuckles lightly, “I suppose you’re right. You must be hungry as well...y’know, fighting off all these hungry boys away from you.”

The girl’s face doesn’t change much, “Nobody has really bothered me.”

“Is that so?” Sousuke tries to continue the conversation, but the girl doesn’t respond much. “If you’re thinking about which food to get, you should try the pork cutlet sometime. It’s a personal favorite of mine.” 

“Hmm...I only eat mackerel.” The girl responds and he could only chuckle at her upfront honesty, even if he did find it strange.

Sousuke shrugs it off as just basic stranger conversation, the same way you would talk to someone at the grocery store. When he reaches the end of the line, he quickly pays for his meal and turns to face the stranger once more. “See you around...and welcome to Samezuka.” 

“Thanks.” She says plainly, giving Sousuke a small smile before he turns and heads to meet Rin.

Sousuke rides the elevator to the top floor, then when he hears the chime, he exits and climbs the final staircase to the roof. He twists the doorknob and steps out, a strong breeze meeting his face soon after. He glances around, looking at other groups of students that have also taken their spot, before he glances a familiar head of red hair. He wonders, for a moment, how word had gotten out about the roof being unlocked. At the same time, only he and Rin know that although the roof is locked by staff at 5 PM, they keep the key under the floor mat right before the entryway. 

He walks towards Rin, yelling a simple greeting, “Yo, Rin.”

Rin turns around with a scowl, “Wow okay, way to be late. Not like I was waiting up here for you looking lonely as hell.”

Sousuke lets out a laugh, “I’m sure you were fine.”

“Yeah whatever. What were you doing? Hitting on some of the new girls?” Rin says jokingly, but his smile quickly fades when Sousuke doesn’t respond to his jab. “Oh, Sou...please tell me you’re not serious.”

He frowns, “Not like it’s any of your business, but I did meet a girl. But it was just light cafeteria conversation. I don’t think I’ll ever see or talk to her again.” Sousuke says, taking a bite of his food.

“I think you’ll see her again! Not like there’s that many girls here to where she would just blend in, Sou.” Rin remarks, taking a bite of his own food. “Was she pretty?”

Sousuke glances at him, “It doesn’t even matter at this point, it’s nothing serious so just drop it already, geez.”

Rin runs a hand through his hair, “Fine, fine Mr.Sensitive, I won’t talk about it anymore.” He sighs.

“So what about you? You meet anybody new?”

Rin ponders for a moment, “Hm… there was a couple of girls in some of my classes. I can’t really pick one out specifically though, I was mostly concerned about the ones that will be out our practice today.” 

“Oh yeah, the principal did mention that...I think it should be interesting.” Sousuke remarks.

“Yeah well cute girls or not, if their times don’t match up with our members, then it’s a no-go.” Rin states with a deadly seriousness. 

Sousuke shoots him a quick glance before taking the last of his food, “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

////////////////

When Rin and Sousuke meet up after class to walk to the pool together, their eyes widen at the site of their team members already practicing.

Rin gasps, “Woah, you guys are starting off the year right! Showing up before the captain even starts! I love it!” He smiles, showing his sharp-toothed grin.

Almost instantly, a familiar over-enthusiastic voice greets the two guys, “Rin-senpai, Sousuke-senpai! I’m so excited for this year!” 

“Hey, Momo!” They both greet in unison, giving him warm smiles.

“Hey Rin-senpai! How’s Gou-san? Has she been talking about me? Has she been thinking about me? Did she mention me over the summer? I’ve been raising some stag beetles for her! Pyunsuke has gotten so big too I think she’ll be impressed! You should --” Momo was quickly interrupted when Rin promptly placed a hand over his mouth.

Sousuke laughs, “Talkative as ever, Momo.”

“Momo, who is in the pool? It seems as if all the guys are standing around the outside.” Rin asks.

Momo’s face lit up very quickly, “Ah! So all of the guys let the girls warm up first so we were just watching at how fast they swam. I think there’s some real talent in this new bunch!” 

“The guys are watching the girls warm up? How gentlemanly.” Rin laughs, sarcasm blatantly evident. Rin reaches his hand for the whistle around his neck and promptly blows on it, “Everyone, gather around! Let’s do some introductions!”

The guys reluctantly drag their eyes away from the swimming women and gathered around Rin. He waited a few minutes for the girls to finish and grab their towels, slowly joining the crowd surrounding him.

Rin clears his throat, “Good afternoon you guys --” He stopped himself, glancing to the women briefly, “-- and girls.” He continues soon after, “For those new to the team, I am the swim team captain, Rin Matsuoka. This is my final year at Samezuka, but I’m still glad to see some new faces around here. If you’re new, please step forward and introduce yourself.”

A couple of first-year guys stepped forward, but most of the guys’ attention was fixate on the girls. Sousuke’s eyes glance at the lineup, but his breath catches in his throat when he locks eyes with the same girl from the cafeteria he had met earlier in the day. He couldn’t help but smirk at her reaction too, her eyes widening and a very, very faint blush forming on her cheeks from being caught with mutual eye contact. It was very, very minimal, but without a doubt, it was there. 

He also couldn’t help but notice how different the girl looked with the pool water reflecting in her equally oceanic eyes. This time, her long hair was disguised under a tight swimming cap, but he could still seek small peeks of raven hair coming from the sides. On a side note, he also couldn’t help but notice how skin tight the one-piece swimsuit was against her figure and he _definitely_ wasn’t complaining.

A tall brunette with shoulder-length hair and very bright green eyes steps forward next, a bright blush painting her features. “I-I uh...I’m Makoto Tachibana. My preferred swimming style is backstroke.” She mutters quickly. The guys giggle a bit at how endearing her shyness was. 

Next, a very peppy and bright-eyed girl stepped forward and removed her swim cap, revealing her short blonde hair. “Nagisa Hazuki, nice to meet all of you! I love doing the breaststroke!” Her voice is brimming with excitement that can almost, _almost_ match Momo’s level of enthusiasm.

A blue-haired girl with a bright yellow butterfly swimsuit steps forward next, “Rei Ryugazaki. Nice to meet all of you! I learned how to swim somewhat recently, but I do like the butterfly.” Rin makes a grunt of approval. Anyone that wears a swimsuit that bright and with that pattern must have a real level of confidence, so he thinks that could be a great addition to the team.

Rin looks around at all the guys taking mental notes of the girls’ names and features, laughing at how he could practically see the gears whirling in their heads of potential pickup lines they were going to use after practice was over. “Okay, the last member, please introduce yourself.”

Hearing this, Sousuke’s ears immediately perk up and he feels his palms sweat slightly with anticipation at the mackerel girl’s introduction. Hm...mackerel girl? He’d have to work on that nickname later.

The dark-haired girl’s face was as stoic as ever, but she clears her throat anyway. “Haruka Nanase, but I go by Haru. I only swim freestyle.” Her introduction was blatant and to the point, exactly like how their interaction was in the cafeteria and for some reason, it made Sousuke laugh under his breath.

Rin claps his hands together, “Alright, cool! I wanna see what all the new recruits can do. If the results are good, then great. If they’re not so good, then we can work on some training regimens that are tailored to you and your personal swimming style to improve it by the time regionals come around. So if you would all head to the pool…” He trails off, walking towards the pool edge himself. 

“Yo, mackerel girl.” Sousuke says, jogging up to Haruka’s side, who by the way, promptly shot him a glare.

Her mouth turns into a slight frown, “Mackerel girl? I just finished telling everyone my name and you call me mackerel girl?” 

“Well yeah.” Sousuke shrugs, “If everyone calls you Haru, I wanted to be unique.”

Haru’s frown deepens, “I don’t like it.”

“You’re a girl and you only eat mackerel. Hence, mackerel girl.” Sousuke replies nonchalantly, not seeing the problem at hand.

She sighs, “Boys have such a simple mind.” 

“Or maybe girls just overthink things too much?”

“Doubt it.” She replies simply, turning her back to him to stand on the starting block. 

Standing on the side of the pool with the rest of his team members, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to see a smirking Uozumi and Minami on both sides of him, giving him a mischievous look. “What?” He asks plainly.

“Damn Yamazaki, you’re pretty quick on the uptake.” Uozumi smirks.

“Don’t know whatcha mean.” Sousuke shrugs.

“We saw you flirting with Nanase...and on the first day too! You dog!” Minami elbows him playfully.

Sousuke scoffs, “Flirting? Hardly. Just talking….”

The two boys brush off Sousuke’s excuses, “Yeah, okay...but would you be bothered if we wanted to ask her on a date?” 

Sousuke raises an eyebrow, “Go ahead, I don’t own her. I barely know her.”

The two guys high-five each other, “Yes! We got the A-okay from the man himself!” They say, hugging each other.

“You guys are weird.” Sousuke says before walking off, joining Rin at looking at the new recruits.

“Sousuke.” Rin grins widely, “Some of these new guys need some work, but these girls are _amazing_! Their form and the power in their strokes is truly unbelievable!” 

Sousuke stares at the pool lanes, eyes narrowing down to one person only; the one leading the pack with such speed and power, but at the same time with such finesse and grace. The sight made the breath catch in Sousuke’s throat for the second time that day. Just what was this girl doing to him? 

Rin’s eyes gleam, “That Nanase girl...she has some real talent.”

“Yeah she really is something.”


	2. partners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all. I'm glad I got some good reception on the first chapter! I know SouHaru isn't nearly as popular as SouRin, MakoHaru, or RinHaru, so I'm hoping to give some love to the "rarepairs" of the series. 
> 
> I'm literally writing this out of order because I have a lot of ideas and I want to type them all out while I'm thinking about it....I'll make them all fit somehow. I literally have a 30 page document of assorted chapters I've typed out lmao. 
> 
> Thanks for reading anyways xoxo <3

After practice was over, the four girls head to the locker room in the back of the gymnasium. Luckily for them, Samezuka had so much money, they separated their locker rooms for each grade level, so the swim team advisor let the girls take four lockers in the junior’s locker room and the guys took the senior locker room. 

Makoto stretches her back, pulling her arms above her head and bending slightly to the side, “Wow, practice today was intense. I don’t know if my body could handle doing this everyday. This is too strenuous.”

Rei exhales, “Right? I heard Samezuka’s team was good, but now I know why. They work really, _really_ hard.”She says, taking off her swimming goggles to put her glasses back on.

Nagisa immediately smirks, “Yeah, and it shows with their extremely built bodies!” 

Makoto and Rei immediately blush, “Nagisa!” They simultaneously exclaim.

Nagisa shrugs, “What? If you didn’t notice, then you guys are blind.” She skips over to Haruka and grips her shoulders, shaking them excitedly, “These swim team guys are freaking _ripped_! Right Haru-chan?”

Haru glances over, “I wasn’t looking….and stop calling me -chan.” She takes off her swim cap and begins to dry her hair off with a towel.

“Oh yeah? That’s because your eyes were glued to that tall, brooding handsome one!” Nagisa says with a mischievous smirk. “What was his name again?” 

Makoto chimes in, “I think his name was…..Sousuke? Sousuke Yamazaki?” 

Rei smiles, “It’s a beautiful name really.”

“That’s right, beautiful name for a beautiful guy!” Nagisa looks especially smug at Haruka, “I saw you two chatting it up on the pool sidelines before practice started. He ask you out?”

Makoto groans, “Nagisa! You can’t just ask people that! That’s personal! It was the first day, so he was probably just introducing himself. Besides, if he did do that, Haru would have definitely told us, right?”

Haruka merely shrugs, “I met him earlier in the cafeteria, but I didn’t know his name or that he was on the swim team until just now.”

Nagisa’s eyes immediately twinkle, “Wow! Almost like destiny! We’re all rooting for you, Haru-chan!” 

Haruka raises her eyebrow, “Destiny? Hardly. A guy like that will have every single girl in the school flocking towards him. I wouldn’t fall for a guy like that.”

“Well, what if it’s the other way around and he falls for you instead?” Makoto asks.

“Doubt it.” Haruka say, then turns her back as she slips her school uniform back on. _’Destiny huh…’_. The thought of it makes her smile, not that she would let the others see it anyway.

///////////////////////////////

The next day, Sousuke dragged his half-dead body to his first class of the day. Calculus.

Why Sousuke signed himself up for Calculus is beyond him, really. He doesn’t know what went through his mind, but at the time, he must have not been thinking rationally at all. Not to mention, math at 8am? Whose bright idea was that? Obviously not his.

When Sousuke arrives to his class, he groans internally when he sees his predestined window seats taken. He sees the over-enthusiastic students in the front, and the further his eyes scan towards the back, the level of excitement deteriorates drastically. He inhales when his eyes focus in on one student in particular. There, right in his usual seat, was Haruka, who was steadily scrolling through her phone. 

Sousuke walked up to the student sitting behind Haruka, “Yo, change seats with me.” He orders.

The guys turns around to protest the rude demand, but when he sees how intimidating Sousuke looks, he backs down immediately. “Yeah, sure.” The guy packs up his stuff and moves a couple seats over, leaving Sousuke to his almost-usual seat.

When he sits down, he immediately greets her, “Yo, Haru.”

Haruka glances up from her screen temporarily, “Oh, hey.” 

Sousuke chuckles, “Is that all I get? A hey for your beloved teammate?”

Haruka raises an eyebrow, “Beloved? You don’t even know me.”

Sousuke can’t help but laugh at Haruka’s blunt personality, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. You good in math?”

“Good is subjective.”

Sousuke is about to respond when the teacher walks in, looking a bit frustrated. “Good morning class, I have an announcement.” She stops for a moment, waiting for the class to quiet down. “Due to some personal circumstances, I’m afraid I won’t be having much time outside of class time to answer any questions. So, starting today, everything will be done in partners….homework, tests, you know, everything! Choose your partner wisely because you won’t be able to change after today.”

After some excited clamor in the classroom begins and people begin grabbing their nearest friend to claim them as theirs, the teacher continues, “I’m going to call names in alphabetical order, then you must declare your partner.”

A student speaks up, “That’s not fair! The students at the beginning of the alphabet always have the advantage!” Several other students join him in agreement, chanting their cries of disapproval.

The teacher sighs, “Whatever, I don’t care. We’ll go in reverse alphabetical order this time. So…” She scans her eyes down the list of student names. “Starting with….Yamazaki Sousuke! Who will your partner be?”

“I’ll pick Haruka.” He says, causing a series of groans from the other girls in the class. All she can hear is whispers of how lucky she was and how they wish he had picked them instead of Haru.

When she hears him say her name, she turns around, face full of bewilderment. He just sighs, eyes reverting back to whatever he was staring at out the window. When the teacher continues going down the list, Haruka decides its just best to wait until after class to talk to him.

When the bell rings, Haruka immediately turns around, causing Sousuke to stare back at her in shock at her sudden movements. “Could I talk to you for a moment outside? Before we go to lunch.”

“Sure” Sousuke says, following the smaller girl through the the double classroom doors. They walk a few steps away from the door to allow more students to pass, and then Haruka turns to face him.

“Yamazaki, why me?” Haruka asks bluntly.

“Why not you? And since we’re partners _and_ teammates now, feel free to just call me Sousuke.” 

“I think I’ll just stick with Yamazaki." She says coldly, "I don’t know what you think this is, but I’m taking this class _and_ the the team very seriously. I don’t know what ulterior motive you may have, but --”

“What makes you think I have an ulterior motive?” Sousuke asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I just thought you wanted to be partners because we already knew each other. Even if it is just a little bit.”

“Hmph…” Haruka grunts in disbelief. 

“Listen, Haru. I just think that you’re an interesting personand a good swimmer. I’d even take the leap of faith to say great swimmer. You just happened to be a girl. I just wanted to get to know you better and we can do that if we were partners.” Sousuke says plainly.

“Did you hear all the complaints from the girls in the class when you chose me as your partner?” Haruka says, crossing her arms.

Sousuke smirks, “Are you intimidated by them?”

His remark causes Haruka to scoff, “As if.” 

Sousuke can’t help but laugh at her reaction, “Confident as ever. I like that.” He says, “Let’s go get some lunch, Haru.”

///////////////////////////////

“Hmm...Haru is late. I hope she's okay.” Makoto says, voice full of worry. 

“Don’t worry Makoto, she’ll be here soon. She probably got caught up with something.” Rei pats Makoto on her hand gently.

Nagisa gasps, “Yeah, busy with _that_!” She says, pointing dramatically at the entrance of the cafeteria. Makoto and Rei both turn around and gasp at Haru and Sousuke walking side by side with each other, laughing together as if they’ve known each other forever. If you could squint really hard, you could see a faint smile on Haruka’s face.

“That’s….new.” Makoto says suspiciously.

“This makes it two days in a row!” Nagisa exclaims excitedly. 

A few minutes later, they see Haruka point in their direction and mouths something to Sousuke, who promptly follows behind her. 

“Oh god, they’re heading this way. What do we do?” Rei asks nervously.

“ _We_ act as normal as possible. Nagisa, _you_ behave yourself.” Makoto warns.

Nagisa pouts at Makoto’s comment, “Why am I singled out?”

Haruka walks up to the table and gently places her tray down next to Makoto, and Sousuke sits down beside Haruka, greeting everyone at the table.

“I hope you don’t mind a new guest at the table.” Haruka says, taking a quick bite of her mackerel.

Makoto flashes a smile, “Not at all, Haru. Welcome to the table, Yamazaki.” 

Sousuke meets the other three girls’ gazes, “Thanks, and please, call me Sousuke. We’re all teammates here, no need for formalities.” Sousuke pulls out his cell phone, and quickly presses his fingers on his screen’s keyboard. “I hope you don’t mind, Rin and I usually eat lunch together so I just invited him to the table.”

Makoto and Rei’s faces immediately flush red, and Haruka smirks a bit at their reactions. “Makoto, Rei, are you feeling hot? Your faces are turning red.”

“Haru!” They both groan in unison, covering their faces with their palms.

“And they told _me_ to behave.” Nagisa pouts to herself.

The five of them continue on with small banter about their classes and new people they have met, but soon enough, Rin shows up to the table. He leans forwards, placing one knee on the seat and both hands on the table, “Hey guys. Nice to see you’re all getting along.” He says with a smile. 

“Take a seat, Rin. Let’s all eat together.” Sousuke says, mouth full of pork cutlet.

“Ah, I already ate. I actually came because I needed your help with something back at the dorm room.” 

Sousuke looks at him in annoyance, “Why do you need my help specifically? I have to eat.”

“Oh come on and help me.” Rin nags, “I’ll pay you back for it later.”

Sousuke sighs, finishing up his last bite of his favorite meal. “Alright.” He stands up from the table and grabs his tray, “Let’s meet up tonight to do the Calculus homework, Haru. How does 7:00 at the library sound?”

“That’s fine. I’ll be there.”

“Cool. See you guys” Sousuke gives them a quick wave. “See you later, Haru.” He smiles at her, before following Rin back to their room.

“ _See you later, Haru_ ” Nagisa mocks with a smug smile on her face. 

“What are you supposed to be?” Haruka asks, not looking up from her meal.

Nagisa pouts, “I’m Sousuke, obviously! He singled you out when saying bye!” 

Haruka turns towards Nagisa, but immediately regrets it when she sees her wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Calm down, Nagisa. We are just going to meet up later to do our math homework together because we’re partners, apparently.”

Nagisa fakes a shocked gasp, “Partners? You chose him, Haru? I didn’t know you had it in you!”

“He picked me, not the other way around.” Haruka corrects him, causing a series of ‘Awws’ from Makoto and Rei on the other side of the table.

Haruka huffs in annoyance, “I’m not discussing this anymore. There’s nothing going on between Sousuke and I.”

“--For now.” Nagisa adds at the end of her sentence, but fails to avoid a dirty glare Haruka throws her way.

///////////////////////////////

At precisely 7:00, Haruka enters the school library carrying a bag of calculus books, her calculator, and her notebook. She looks around the semi-empty room and spots an empty table at the back section of the library floor. She quickly takes a seat and flips the textbook open to the homework page, _'Might as well get started…'_ She thinks to herself while waiting for Sousuke to arrive.

Haruka stares at the problem in the textbook, sighing as she tries to remember the lesson they had covered in class today. She had been so distracted by Sousuke picking her as his partner, so _willingly_ , that she couldn’t focus in class. Damn it, she didn’t get this far in life to be distracted by boys right now. She had things to accomplish and she would be damned if anyone got in her way, nevertheless, a boy.

When she begins to copy the problem from the textbook, she feels a hand grip the top of her pencil. Immediately irritated, she glares at the offending person that disrupted her thought process. She quickly feels a sense of uneasiness, when she sees an unfamiliar face staring back at her.

“Hey, what’s your name? You’re really pretty. Did you know that?” The boy asked, trying to give Haruka his best smile.

“Thanks.” She deadpans, snatching her pencil back from his grip and continues to write.

“Don’t be that way!” He pleads, “I just thought that since you’re here alone, that you could use some company.”

Haruka doesn’t even give him the pleasure of looking at him, “Yeah, no thanks.” She says, continuing to scribble down notes in her notebook.

“Aw, you don’t like my compliments?” He gives a fake pout.

“No.” Haruka was getting tired of being bothered him, “Leave me alone, please.”

Instead of listening to her, the random boy takes the seat that was originally meant to be for Sousuke. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be here by herself. You should back to my room with me so we're both not lonely.” He says, snaking an arm around Haruka’s shoulder and rolls a finger at the ends of her hair.

Surprised by the contact, Haruka immediately shoves him away from her and stands up abruptly and backs away from him. “Don’t _fucking_ touch me. I don't know you.” She warns.

The boy scoffs at Haruka’s threat, “Or else what? There’s nobody on the floor in the library but you and me. What are you doing to do me?”

“I don’t what she’s going to do to you…” A deep voice says from behind a bookcase. “But I know that if you even think of _touching_ her, I’ll fuck you up right here, right now.” Haruka’s eyes scan the darkness, and slowly but surely, Sousuke emerges from the shadows, notebook and textbook in hand.

“Oh really?” The boy challenges Sousuke.

“Really.” Sousuke grits through his teeth, “Fucking try me.” Sousuke warns, dropping his books to the floor. The boy steps up to him, but when he sees Sousuke practically towering over him, he changes his mind quickly.

“Whatever, man. You can have her.” The boy steps back, putting his hands in the air. With that, the boy leaves as quickly as he appeared.

Sousuke exhales, trying to take deep breaths and calm himself down. He turns to Haruka, who was still standing in the corner, a shocked expression painted on her features. He walks over to her, voice full of concern, “Are you okay? Did he do something to you?”

Haruka hesitates to answer, her mind still trying to comprehend exactly what just happened. He waits for her to answer, and when she finally shakes her head no, she sees him physically relax. A deafening silence fills the library and the space between the two.  
Sousuke finally speaks up after a few moments, “Were you scared, Haruka?”

She doesn’t know how to respond, so she stays silent and averts her gaze to the floor. It’s almost as if all the words she tries to say get stuck in her throat. Haruka feels as if she wants to cry, but this time, she doesn’t know if it would be out of her previous fear or the relief she feels now that Sousuke had shown up to save her from being harassed even further. In the end, she decides to keep quiet because if she even tried to speak, she knew her voice would crack and she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him. However, Sousuke gets his answer anyway when he sees her hands shaking ever so slightly.

He places his hands over top of hers slowly and gently,“It’s okay Haru, he won’t bother you ever again. If he does, he knows he’ll have to face me.” He tries to reassure her.

When she finally meets his gaze, her eyes shine with tears, but none ever escape. “You’re late.” She manages to say.

Sousuke could feel his mood lighten and chuckles a bit, “Right. Sorry, sorry.”

After another moment of silence, Haruka finally speaks up again, “Thank you, Sousuke.”

“It takes something like this for you to call me Sousuke?” He teases.

“Shut up.” Haruka says, but she gives him a small smile still.

“So the stoic princess can smile after all?” 

“I told you to shut up.” Haruka’s smile immediately turn into a frown.

“You should do it more often. Smiles look nice on you, Haru.” He smiles at her instead, “Come on, we can do the homework tomorrow. I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“Yeah….alright. Let's go back.”


	3. from the bleachers

Ever since the incident in the library occurred, neither Sousuke nor Haruka has brought it up since then. Haruka figures that Sousuke has been asking in a roundabout way with his occasional “Have you been okay?” conversations he has with her during class and at practice. He doesn’t ask her directly about if the guy was harassing her still, but rather he hopes that she would bring it up in conversation to him in case it ever did happen again.

Since then, over two months of the school year have passed and Haruka’s daily routine was pretty much set in stone. She doesn’t lead the most exciting life as a student per se, but she enjoys it when she is doing what she loves and is around the people that she cares about. However, Haruka finds herself realizing that the group of people that she cares about is slowly expanding to include a certain class partner of hers and his best friend. Haruka initially had her doubts about attending a majority-male school and thought she would just serve her last year here with her three best friends, but it seems as if there was a small, miniscule crack in their friend circle and those two idiots have burst their way in, unapologetically and in full force. 

The biggest change that she still has yet to get used to, however, is her increasingly frequent interactions with Sousuke. It’s not only how much they talk or see each other outside of class, it’s also how much he gives her casual touches. When he sees her pass by in the hallway, he’ll slip one hand on her shoulder in a passing touch. When she finishes a lap in the pool, he’ll walk up and give her a high five, hand lingering on her palms longer than it should. When they work on their math homework together, his leg is always touching hers. Haruka knows that if she can feel their skin contact, then so he could he, but neither of them makes an effort to move. Whether or not Haruka would like to admit it, his touches aren’t unwarranted. They make Haruka feel safe, feel comfortable….but most importantly, they make her feel warm, long after he leaves her side.

That Friday night, the group parted their ways as both Rin and Sousuke had to head to bed early. Tomorrow, some of the guys from the swim team were participating in a tournament hosted by the local swimming club. Of course, a lot of the incentive came from the monetary prize for placing first in each of the different strokes, but when the principal of the school caught wind of it, he thought it would be a great opportunity to recruit new students to the school. So of course, flyers and announcements were posted everywhere, encouraging other students to cheer on their fellow classmates.

Rei and Nagisa decide to stay the night with Makoto and Haru, as they were all planning on heading to the tournament tomorrow together anyway. When they finally settle down in the room, Haruka’s phone begins to buzz.

Nagisa smirks, “Who is that, Sou-chan? He can’t even spend five minutes away from you with trying to talk to you, can he Haru-chan?” 

Haruka ignores her teasing remarks and checks her phone. It indeed _was_ from Sousuke, but she lies about it anyway. “No.”

As Haruka is typing away on her phone, she doesn’t notice Nagisa sneaking up from behind her and she snatches her phone from her palms, reading the conversation on the screen as fast as she could.

“Haru-chan, you liar!” Nagisa laughs, “ _Hope to see you at the tournament tomorrow. You just might be my good luck charm_ ” Nagisa reads, mocking Sousuke’s voice the best she could.

Haruka’s face flushes and she immediately snatches the phone back, stuffing it in her pockets. “Nagisa, stop that.”

“Yeah Nagisa, stop invading other people’s privacy.” Makoto nags.

Nagisa pouts, “It’s not my fault Haru-chan doesn’t tell us Sou-chan is flirting with her via text.”

“He’s not flirting with me.” Haruka tries to deny.

Rei shrugs, “I don’t know, Haru. He called you his good luck charm.”

“He could say that about anything or anybody.” Haruka says plainly.

“Yeah he could, but he didn’t. He said that about _you_ when he could say that about any girl.” Nagisa points out.

“It’s true, Haru. A lot of girls fawn over the guys on the swim team, but especially Rin and Sousuke. Do you know how many times girls have come up to me and said how lucky I was for being on the team with them?” Makoto comments.

Suddenly, Nagisa makes an exaggerated gasp, “I have an idea! Let’s doll up Haru-chan for the swim meet tomorrow. It’ll blow Sou-chan away!”

“Great idea, Nagisa!” Rei exclaims happily and claps her hands together.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Haruka deadpans.

“Why not, Haru?” Makoto asks.

“Why should I?” Haruka counters.

“Because you like him.” Nagisa answers simply.

A light blush forms on Haruka’s cheeks, “I do not…” She tries to deny it, but her friends stare at her more intensely as the seconds pass, analyzing every facial twitch she makes in her lie.

“Try that lie on people that don’t know you well.” Nagisa laughs at Haru’s attempt. 

Rei digs in her bookbag and pulls out the latest issue of _Teen Magazine_ and flips through the pages. When she finally stops at a page, she shows the other three girls. “See, in this issue, they have a whole bunch of examples of ‘date night looks.’ Pick one out Haru, and we’ll do it for you.”

Haruka frowned, “It’s not even a date, it’s just me going out to show support. I could also be there for Rin too, not just Sousuke.”

“Yeah, but you’re not.” Nagisa points out, “I like this one. I think it would look good on you, especially since you have long hair.” She shoves the magazine in Haruka’s face.

Haruka officially gives up, “That’s...fine. Do what you want.” 

“Great!” They all chant in union. After serious discussion, Nagisa was put in charge of hair, Rei was in charge of nails, and Makoto was in charge of picking out Haruka’s outfit.

Makoto searched through Haruka’s wardrobe, sliding hangers from side to side. “Haru, don’t you have anything that’s not a swimsuit or a school uniform?”

“Yeah, I have sweatpants.” Haruka answers blankly.

“You know what I mean!” Makoto frowns, “Well, this won’t do. Haruka doesn’t own anything remotely feminine.” 

“You can borrow some clothes from me, Haru. We’re the closest in size anyway.” Rei says, beginning to file Haruka’s nails.

“This is so exciting!” Nagisa exclaims, running a comb through Haruka’s long, black locks. “I love doing hair!”

“Have you even done hair before, Nagisa?” Makoto asks, grabbing Rei’s room key from her purse. 

She scoffs at the question, “Do you think I get my hair in this style naturally? I don’t want to hear anything from you straight-haired people!” She turns back to Haruka, “Don’t worry, Haru-chan! We’re going to make sure you blow Sou-chan away!”

“We’re trusting you, Nagisa. I’ll be right back, I’m going to dig through some of Rei’s clothes.” Makoto waves before closing the door.

The three of them sat in a comfortable silence as Nagisa searched some additional hairstyle ideas on her phone. “So Haru-chan, do you prefer your hair up? Down? Half up-half down? Give me some ideas!” Nagisa says, digging through Haruka’s drawer and pulling out another comb. “Geez, Haru-chan, why do you only own combs? You don’t have a brush? You don’t have any cute hair accessories?”

“I have some black ponytails in the other drawer.” Haruka answers simply, causing Nagisa to sigh and Rei to chuckle.

“Black ponytails are your idea of cute accessories?” Nagisa pouts, “You don’t have any flower crowns? Statement necklaces? Oh, a choker would look really nice on you Haru-chan!”

Haruka gives Nagisa face as if she would rather die than ever put on a flower crown, and somehow wordlessly communicates that same idea to Nagisa. “Okay, fine. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

After a few minutes, Makoto arrives back in the room, heaps of clothes shoved in giant piles in her arms. “I brought a couple of versatile pieces so we can mix them up in case Haruka likes different combinations. I think Rei’s blue dress would look really nice on --”

“I’m not wearing a dress” Haruka says sternly.

Makoto frowns, “Why not, Haru? I’m sure if you wore it you would impress Sousuke.”

“I’m going to see them swim, I don’t want to impress him by being something -- somebody I’m not.” Haruka answers honestly, making the other three girls feel a little guilty for pushing their agenda on their dear friend.

“We’re sorry Haru.” Makoto says for all three of them, but all of their faces look disheartened, almost like a bunch of sad puppies.

Feeling a little guilty herself, Haruka, despite her previous comments lets them continue, “It’s fine. Let’s just get this over with….on one condition.” 

“What’s that?”

“No makeup, no dresses.” Haruka says, asserting her opinion.

“Geez Haru-chan, at least wear some lip balm.” Nagisa says as she excitedly grabs a spare chair from one of the desks Haruka uses to study and drags it over to the bed. She takes a seat on the bed, then taps the back of the chair, silently inviting Haruka to come sit, but she can’t help but roll her eyes a bit.

“We’re just excited for you, Haru.” Rei says, looking through some of the clothes with Makoto. “This is the first time we’ve seen you show interest in anyone -- much less a boy. So we’re rooting for you from the sidelines. Ultimately, it’s up to you though of course.”

“Rei’s right, Haru. Even if you decide not to pursue anything with Sousuke, we’ll be here to support your decisions 100%.” Makoto turns around to face Haruka, “You’re a great girl and an even greater friend. If Sousuke, much less any person, can’t see that, then they don’t deserve you.”

“What do you two even talk about when you’re alone?” Nagisa asks, even if she feels its a nosy question.

Haruka ponders the question for a moment, “Well… normal things like swimming, school, friends, and sometimes he asks me questions to get to me know me better. My likes...dislikes…” She paused before saying the last comment, “He’s asked about my family.”

Haruka’s sentence made all three of them pause their activity and turn to face him, faces full of worry and concern. “What did you say when he asked you about your family?” Makoto finally speaks up.

Haruka looks down to the floor, trying to avoid eye contact with Makoto. “I...usually just try to avoid the question by changing the subject. I don’t know if he’s caught on to it yet.”

“Speaking of your family, have you talked to them recently?” Rei asked.

“It’s been about three weeks since my Mom has called me….my dad hasn’t contacted me in over two months.” Haruka shrugs, “I’ve stopped worrying about them calling me a long time ago. I’ve moved on.”

“What about your grandma? Has she been doing better?” The moment Makoto asks, she knows she’s crossed the line into forbidden territory.

Haruka can feel her stomach drop at Makoto’s question. A part of her wants to coil up and avoid the question as a whole, but the other part of her trusts all three of them and she knows that they wouldn’t want her to keep these types of things to herself to bottle them up. She can feel the tears rising to the ends of her eyes, but she fights them down instead. “She’s….” She pauses, “It’s not looking good, honestly. When I go to see her, she keeps reminding me that she’s old and these types of things happen, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Makoto and Rei both walk over and grab Haruka’s hands, trying to comfort her the best way they can. Nagisa stops combing Haruka’s hair and wraps her arms around her neck, trying use her embrace as a source of emotional support. 

“For all things, Haru-chan.” Nagisa says, wiping away her own empathetic tears that have been brought to her eyes, “We’ll be here for you through it all.”

///////////////////////////////

Sousuke sat on the floor next to the pool, stretching his arms and back while he reached for his toes. Rin came up from behind him, adding extra pressure onto his back stretch by pressing on his shoulders even further.

Sousuke could have sworn he heard all of his bones crack, “Ah -- shit Rin, that hurts!” He complains.

“Stop whining, it’s good for you.” Rin chuckles.

“Instead of worrying about my stretching, you need to go do yours.” Sousuke points out, “You see anybody from school here?”

Rin’s eyes scan the crowd quickly, “Ah, well I see the principal here and some of the teachers. Our advisor is here, of course. Lots of girls…”

“Oh you invited your fanclub? How are Makoto and Rei going to feel about that?” Sousuke teases, causing Rin to roll his eyes.

“Very funny. Those two girls from our chemistry class are here too.”

“Hmm….don’t care for them that much.” Sousuke shrugs his shoulders.

“Because they’re not Haru.” This time, it was Rin’s turn to tease.

“Oh, you have jokes now?” Sousuke chuckles, “Are they even coming?”

“They should have texted me if they were even here.” Rin says, scanning the crowds again. He sees a small group of people come in through the entrance, then he sees them come together, searching for a place to sit in the bleachers. “Oh there they are! Makoto, Rei, Nagisa….and Ha -- Woah, holy shit! Sousuke, look!”

Surprised at Rin’s reaction, Sousuke turns his attention upwards, eyes locking onto Haruka’s immediately, who also found him amongst the crowd of other swimmers. Sousuke felt his whole body, with the exception of his heart, which was beating a million miles a minute. Haruka looked so _beautiful_ , he doesn’t know how he will be able to swim without being distracted now. There she was, clad in an olive green jacket, slightly distressed jeans, and brown boots. Under her jacket, she wore a simple black camisole with a gold drop necklace. The whole outfit looked carefully planned out, and it obviously worked as Sousuke can’t take his eyes off of her. 

When Haruka’s sees Sousuke looking at her, she shyly raises her arm and gives him a slight wave, causing Sousuke to give her a smile and wave back, acknowledging he saw her there.

“Wow…” Sousuke chokes out, “Haru really looks great. She even did her hair.”

“They all clean up nice!” Rin agrees, “Guess we better do our best today.” Rin reaches his fist out, and per routine, Sousuke obliges giving him a light bump.

“Let’s win this thing.”

///////////////////////////////

Despite the nervousness and anxiety Sousuke felt from all the cameras, roars from the crowd, and most importantly, from Haruka watching him in the crowd, he placed first in butterfly and Rin also won first in freestyle. 

Even though Haruka wasn’t swimming today, watching Sousuke’s power in each stroke he took made her heart race each time he came back to the surface. When he was first to touch the pool wall, he immediately pulled off his swimming cap and yelled in victory, making her smile all the way from the crowd. However, what made her breath catch, was that after he calmed down, he turned to her direction in the crowd and flashed her the biggest smile she had ever seen from him.

Nagisa, of course, was the first to react. “Ahhhh! Sousuke is totally in love with you, did you see him smile at you after he won?” She excitedly taps Haruka on her knees, “See! The outfit totally reeled him in, you look gorgeous Haru-chan! And to think you didn’t want to wear that jacket with your outfit.”

Haruka blushed at Nagisa’s words, “You don’t know if he was smiling at me specifically, we’re all sitting together…..and it’s the middle of June, I don’t want to wear a jacket.”

“Don’t be in denial, Haru. It’s obvious a smile that bright was meant for you.” Rei scoffs from beside Nagisa, who is nodding her head enthusiastically in agreement.

“That was the last race too, so you should go see him after he gets dressed. We’ll be here waiting for you after you’re finished, Haru.” Makoto edges Haruka on, giving her a slight push in the direction of the hallway.

“You guys are too much.” Haruka sighs.

“We are, but we’re also living vicariously through you, Haru-chan. So go get him!” Nagisa smiles at her, grabbing Haruka’s wrist and pulling on them lightly.

“Alright, alright. I’ll text you guys when I’m finished.” Haruka finally stands up, releasing herself from Nagisa’s ironclad grip. She slowly walks from the narrow bleacher aisle, then finds the entryway to where all the swimmers left through after the tournament was over. A few feet from outside of the locker room, Haruka finds an empty bench next to the vending machines.

Haruka walks up to the machine and inserts a few coins, and after careful consideration, she ends up with two drinks, one for her and a water for Sousuke. She sits back down on the bench, placing the drinks beside her and scrolls through her phone for minor entertainment. Why did she even agree to coming here and why is she letting Nagisa influence her with her wild and crazy ideas?

After waiting a few moments, Haruka’s nervousness is starting to get to her. She stands up and takes off her jacket, tying it loosely around her waist. Finally, she sees Sousuke emerge from the locker room and his eyes meet hers for the third time that day. 

Haruka grabs the two water bottles and calls out to him, “Sou--” she stops herself from saying any more when she sees Sousuke get bombarded by a group of girls that are wearing their school uniform that she guesses were also waiting for Sousuke and Rin to come out as well. When Haruka sees the girls latching onto Sousuke’s arms and touching his chest in the name of “congratulating” him and him smiling back at them, she can’t help but feel a bit disgusted at what she’s seeing.

To be fair, disgust was the first emotion Haruka felt, but it quickly transformed into something unfamiliar. Was this _jealousy_? She can’t help but feel a bit irrational at being envious at someone who she didn't even have an official relationship with, but seeing those girls do that to him made her break character. 

She can’t look at this anymore. Haruka turns on her heels and hurriedly walks back to where her friends where, throwing the second water bottle in the trash can along the way with a little _too_ much force.

When Haruka returns to her friends waiting on her arrival, they look at her, confusion spreading across their face simultaneously.

Makoto frowns, “That was quick, Haru. What happened? Where’s Sousuke?”

“You look a little upset Haru.” Rei says.

“Nothing happened. Let’s just go.” The words come out a little angrier than intended, but Haruka doesn’t care at this point.  
Feeling as if they’re walking on eggshells, the other three girls nod in agreement and decide to leave with Haruka, avoiding the subject completely on the way home.

///////////////////////////////

When they return to their dorm, Rei and Nagisa join Makoto and Haruka in their room as well. Almost immediately, Haruka begins stripping herself of all her clothes and accessories she wore that day, angrily tossing them onto the desk.

Obviously worried, Makoto turns to Haruka who was still angrily unlacing her shoelaces. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it Haruka?”

Haruka ends up glaring at Makoto although she doesn’t mean to, but the recent events made her emotions jagged. “I waited for him and even bought him a drink --” She pauses, “But decides as soon as he gets out to let a bunch of girls latch onto him like some kind of leech.”

“Maybe he didn’t see you standing there?” Rei inquiries.

“We made eye contact.” Haruka says simply. “I can’t believe I got my hopes up and wore all of this….for _him_.” The last word comes out more pained than Haruka intended, but she shrugs it off.

“We’re sorry, Haru-chan. If we knew it would have been like this, we wouldn’t have made you go today.” Nagisa apologizes, but Haruka can only sigh. She slips on a tank top and a pair of shorts before tying her hair up and diving into her bed, covering herself with the blanket her grandma gave her before she moved in. Whenever she enveloped herself in it, she feels strangely comforted by just knowing that a little piece of her grandmother was there with her no matter where she lived.

“Don’t sulk, Haru. We --” Makoto begins, but gets interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. The four of them look at the door curiously, as they weren’t expecting any visitor at this time of the day.

Cautiously, Makoto opens the door and peeks her head through the crack. “Sousuke? What are you doing here?” She asks incredulously, making Haruka turn around in her bed abruptly.

Sousuke looks at Makoto in her eyes, “Hey, Makoto. Is Haru here?” 

“How did you know which room we were in?” Makoto asks suspiciously.

“I just went up to the girls’ level and asked a couple of girls if they knew a Haruka and Makoto that lived on this floor. So...here I am.” Sousuke answered truthfully.

“We _know_ you’re good at talking with girls, Sousuke.” Rei says accusingly. “Why do you want to know if she’s here?”

“I just want to talk to her.” 

“Is that so? I think you’ve done enough for the day.” Rei raises her eyebrows at him, causing him to frown.

When he opens his mouth to give a smart-ass retort, he sees a small hand reach around Rei and Makoto’s waists, patting them gently. “It’s okay you guys, I’ll talk to him.”

Despite the protests they feel deep inside, both Makoto and Rei decide to respect their friend’s wishes and move aside unwillingly. Haruka moves past them and closes the door slowly behind her.

“What do you want, Yamazaki?” Haruka says, crossing her arms across her chest.

“What? We’re back on last name terms now Haru?” Sousuke frowns at her and she only shrugs her shoulders in response. “Listen, I just wanted to talk to you about today. You didn’t answer my calls or texts.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Haruka replies quickly. “I just came to show support for you and Rin today, that’s all.”

“Is that really all there is to it?” Sousuke asks, “I saw you outside the locker room. Why did you leave so suddenly? Why do you look so mad at me?”

“Are you really that dense?” Haruka says before thinking her response all the way through. Half of her regrets the words she said, but the other half of her really meant it. “...And who says I’m mad at you? It could be anybody.”

Sousuke looks a bit taken aback at Haruka’s abrasiveness, “Maybe…” He begins, “I saw you waiting for me, but I got a bit sidetracked. By the time I looked up again, you were gone.”

“Is that what we’re calling it now? Sidetracked? You looked like you were enjoying your “sidetracked” activities to me.” 

Sousuke raises an eyebrow, “Is that what this is about? Those girls that practically ambushed me outside the locker room?”

Haruka says nothing and merely shrugs, causing Sousuke to chuckle a bit. “So, it is, isn’t it? You were jealous of those girls touching me?”

She is quick to her defense, “Nobody is jealous. I don’t own you and I don’t control what you do.” She deadpans, “You can do what you want. I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Do what I want?” Sousuke asks, “So you’re saying, if I asked one of those girls out on a date, you wouldn’t be mad?”

“No.” Haruka is lying through her teeth and Sousuke can clearly see it.

“Whatever you say, Haru.” Sousuke ends up laughing and it ticks Haruka off a bit.

“It’s not funny.”

“You’re right, it’s not funny. I think it’s cute you’re so protective of me, Haru.” He smiles at her, “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t ask any of those girls out.”

“And why not?”

“Because…I only have my eyes on one girl right now and she’s currently really mad at me, so…I don’t think she’ll give me the time of day.” Sousuke is honest with his words, and it makes Haruka blush. _Hard_.

Haruka finds the courage to look him in his face, “I’m not mad at you…”

“What makes you think I’m talking about you?” Sousuke teases, “It could be anybody.” He says, mocking the words she said to him previously.

Haruka decides that she hates his smug face. She hits him lightly in the chest, “You’re such a jerk.” 

Sousuke can’t help but laugh at the blushing Haruka in front of him. He steps forward, placing his hands on Haruka’s crossed arms. He leans forward slowly, sweeping his face forward and placing a swift kiss on Haruka’s cheek. She gasps slightly at the sudden, unexpected contact and looks at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m sorry about today, Haru.” He says with a gentle voice, “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. Thank you for coming out to see me today. I really felt like you being there gave me the drive to win.”

“I-It’s fine…” Haruka stammers out, her voice still shaken slightly from Sousuke giving her the kiss. How can she still be mad when he is looking at her so genuinely and full of sincerity? “Your swimming today was amazing.”

“Thanks for everything today, Haru. I'll make it up to you soon, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm...i think i finally lined up the story the way i wanted it to go  
> to line up with my chapters i already have typed!
> 
> i hope you're enjoying it :^)


	4. confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter came quick because I already had it pretyped  
> also they need to fucking kiss already damn it

If Haruka ever had any doubt she was developing a hearing problem, they would be quickly cleared by the amount of yelling, screeching, and squeals that she heard when she went back inside her dorm room after Sousuke had kissed her on the cheek. Haruka would have even went so far as to say she saw tears in their eyes, but it wasn’t like she could blame them, she felt happy too. Sometimes she wonders if Sousuke goes back and tells Rin the same things she tells her friends, but she thinks men might handle things a different way than women, but what does she know about men anyway?

A couple of weeks have passed since then and Sousuke hasn’t made a move on her since, so Haruka doesn’t bring it up in conversation. She figures that he keeps testing his limits, seeing what she will or won’t allow to see if she would comfortable, she appreciates that, even if she doesn’t vocalize it. Deep down, Haruka knows that Sousuke would never do anything that would hurt her intentionally, nor force himself on her with things she would not feel comfortable with. 

Haruka’s train of thought was quickly interrupted when she suddenly sees Sousuke snapping his fingers in front of her face. “Hello, Earth to Haruka. Anybody in there?” He questions.

“Yeah, sorry I spaced out. I was just thinking about things.” Haruka sighs. Today, they’re alone in the library and she specifically picked the table by the window so she could see the sunset on the ocean waves from where they were. When she gazes out the window, she suddenly feels an urge to swim, but instead she’s stuck inside doing homework problems.

“It’s no problem. I just don’t want to stare at these dumb math problems for any longer than I have to.” He chuckles, pushing the math textbook away from his body and leaning back into his chair.

“Are you giving up?” Haruka asks.

“Nah.” He closes his eyes and stretches his body some more, “I just need a mental break.”

“That’s fine, we can take a break.” She agrees, placing a pencil in her textbook before closing it to save her place. She can feel Sousuke eyeing her from across the table and it peaked her curiosity, “What? Why are you looking at me?”

“Nothing.” Sousuke answers simply, “Just wondering about some stuff.”

“Stuff like what?”

“Stuff about you.” He says, sitting back up from his chair. “You’re a quiet, mysterious girl, Haru. I wonder what my true class partner is like.”

Haruka raises an eyebrow, “I’ll answer anything you ask.” 

“Is that so? Well...hm…” He thinks out loud, “How did you meet Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei? You guys seem really close.”

“Makoto and I were neighbors, Nagisa attended the same swimming club as me, and we went to the same school as Rei.” Haruka answers simply.

“I guess that makes sense.”

“What about you? How did you and Rin meet? I’m assuming you call him your best friend.” Haruka asks.

“We went to the same swimming club and elementary school. We’ve had some up and downs since then, but we always end up forgiving each other anyway.” Sousuke laughs at his own memories.

“Hm.” Haruka hums, trying to imagine a little tiny, unmuscular version of both Rin and Sousuke on the playground. “Are you going to follow each other after graduation?”

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest.” He answers, “I don’t think about the future that much. If all goes well, everything will fall into place.”

“That’s a very free way of thinking.” Haruka gives him a light smile.

“I thought you liked stuff like that.” Sousuke chuckles, “Haru, I --” He is interrupted when he sees the screen on Haruka’s phone light up and vibrate against the table. Out of habit, he glances to see who was calling. Haruka glances as well, eyes widening, then quickly slides left to deny the phone call.

Sousuke doesn’t say anything to Haru about her denying the phone call so quickly, but when the caller calls back a few seconds after being rejected, he can’t help but wonder. Haruka sighs in annoyance, swiping left once more. A few seconds later, the phone rings for the third time, and Haruka mutters something under her breath, rejecting it for the umpteenth time, then placing the phone face down on the table.

Haruka can feel Sousuke’s judging eyes on her, looking at her questioningly. “So...you’re not going to answer your mom, Haru?”

“She’s fine.” Haruka deadpans, opening the textbook back up to get her mind off the phone call.

“Are you sure? People usually don’t call three times in a row if it’s not an emergency.”

“Just drop it, okay?” Haruka’s voice comes out more annoyed than she wanted it to be, but she can’t help herself at the moment.

“Alright, alright. I won’t bother you about it anymore.” Sousuke says, opening his own textbook again. “Let’s just finish this quickly, alright?”

Haruka simply nods and begins to write down the equation in her notebook once more, but her train of thought comes to a halt once more when the damn vibration from her phone reverberates on the wooden library table. “Damn it.” She mutters with irritation, “Sorry, Sousuke. I’m going to take this if you don’t mind. I’ll be right back.”

“No problem, I’m going to go get a drink or something. Let’s meet back here in ten?” Sousuke gives her a reassuring smile, she she nods before finally swiping right to accept her call. Haruka quickly gets up and leave the library, leaving Sousuke alone at the table.

He wonders what’s going on with Haruka and why she is being so secretive, but he just shrugs it off. He thinks that if the time is right, she will tell him. He won’t force it out of her if she doesn’t feel comfortable with him yet. He grabs his wallet and his phone, then gets up from the table himself, leisurely heading down the hallway to the vending machine.

Per his usual, Sousuke selects the coke from the vending machine drinks almost half of it in half a swig. Figuring Haruka would still be on the phone, he walks out the door of the library and climbs the steps to the roof, trying to get some fresh air after being trapped in the building for hours at a time. When he steps onto the roof, he takes a quick glance around and doesn’t see anyone, as he expected, and slowly shuffles over to the end of the roof that faces the ocean. The roof is relatively flat, besides a few exhaust vents and other various building features, but his favorite spot is right behind the entrance door because it offers a great view of the water and acts as a back support against the concrete structure. 

Sousuke could only sigh and close his eyes as he leaned his head against the concrete pillar that sends cold waves up his back. Coupled with the cool breeze from the evening air, he started to have regrets about having his secret place be outside and not in a closet somewhere in the basement floor of his dorm. Now that he thinks about it, the latter would sound too suspicious anyways. It seems like it was just summer yesterday, but now the weather has cooled down immensely, especially at night, and the sun sets earlier and earlier each day. He’ll miss swimming in the slightly warm summer waters, but he looks forward to the beautiful scenery autumn has to offer him. 

His eyes quickly snap open when he hears the slam of the roof door, the vibrations running across his body. _’Shit….’_ Sousuke thinks, if anyone finds him up there, he would probably end up in detention or some silly juvenile shit like that and he just doesn’t have the time. With his mind racing, he ultimately decides to just stay as motionless and silent as possible, hoping to hear a second slam of the door of the person leaving.

However, as fate would have it, he instead hears footsteps walking along the roof that were slowly getting louder. Sousuke could practically hear his own heartbeat with the way it was thumping in his chest. Who even knew about the roof key besides him anyways?

Sousuke exhales as slowly and quietly as possible when he hears the footsteps top and the sound of school bag drop. He hears somebody exhale with an immense sigh before they began, “Okay, go ahead. I’m in a quiet place now.”

 _’This voice….I know this voice….’_ Sousuke’s mind is racing a mile a minute and his eyes widen at his realization, _’That’s Haruka’s voice! What is she doing up here? She must be on the phone still...’_

Haruka sighs, “Yes, I went to the appointment yesterday after school as usual. I just told my swim team captain I couldn’t make it, but obviously I can’t make it a habit without telling him my reason.” 

Sousuke’s body stills, feeling as if he’s eavesdropping on something he shouldn’t be, but he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter. He can only hear one side of the conversation, but he wonders what Haruka is going on about. Sure he noticed she wasn’t at practice yesterday, but he didn’t think much of it since he still saw her later on that evening.

“The doctors said it’s not looking good…I don’t know what to do.”

“They’re thinking of running some CAT scans next week and the results should be back by the next week after that.”

“I know Mom, I’m trying my best. It’s just hard to do it by myself.”

“It’s not a problem really. We both know that you or dad wouldn’t come home for it, so I can do this by myself as I have been.”

“Alright, bye.” Haruka says through her gritted teeth. Some days, she wishes she had a flip phone so she could hang up on somebody properly. Just pressing the ‘End Call’ button doesn’t do her anger justice.

. Sousuke is relieved when he hears the shuffling of Haruka gathering her bag as if she was going to leave. Now he just has to wait --

_Riiiiingggggg, riiiiinngggg_

Sousuke’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates as his cell phone begins to ring. After school, he always takes it off silent to loud mode so he can hear notifications, but damn it if it didn’t backfire on him right now. Was his phone always this loud or did it just increase in volume because some deity decided to fuck him over the best way possible.

 _’Shit shit fuck fuck shit fuck….’_ A series of curses run through Sousuke’s mind as he scrambles through his pocket to turn off the offending noise. Of course, by that time, it’s too late as Haruka walked around the back of the concrete pillar to see who was there. 

Sousuke looked up and locked eyes with a bewildered Haruka, standing there staring at him with equally as wide eyes.

“Uh...hey, Haru.” That’s all Sousuke manages to say without stuttering as his mind is about to shut down.

“Sousuke, what the hell?” Haruka’s face twists into one of a mix of hurt, confusion, and little bits of anger. “What are doing up here?”

Sousuke scrambles up from his hiding spot abruptly, trying to find the right words to explain himself. “I uh...it’s a surprise to see you up here. I didn’t know anyone knew about this place except me.”

Haruka says nothing and merely stares at him, eyes demanding more answers.

He hesitates for a moment, “I….didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was here for a few minutes for some fresh air and was about to leave, but then you came and I didn’t know what to do and --”

“How much of that did you hear?” Haruka interrupts him.

Sousuke sighs, “Well...seeming as it’s just you and me up here….all of it.” 

Haruka shifts her head downwards running her hand backwards through her hair, as if she was ashamed by the whole situation. An air of silence fills the space between the two of them and Sousuke, feeling a bit awkward, ponders the right words to say. He was never really good with words, but right now, he would trade anything to have that skill.

Addressing the elephant in the room, he doesn’t avoid the inevitable. “So….a doctor’s appointment, huh?” Sousuke begins.

Haruka merely blinks at him, no words escaping her lips still.

“Haru, are you sick? if you’re sick, I don’t think you should --” Sousuke is cut short once again.

“Stay out of my business.” Haruka says quickly, ice dripping from each of her words. She abruptly turns on her heels and runs for the roof door, leaving Sousuke standing by himself.

He exhales slowly, then heads back to gather his things from the library. When he finally gets there, he sees that Haruka already came by and grabbed her stuff and left. 

A thousand thoughts go through his mind on his his short trip from the library to his dorm. _’I really fucked up now.’_ He thinks to himself, fiddling with the key to his door. For some reason, he can’t quite get the key in the door correctly and as each second passes, he gets angrier and angrier with the keys, but more at himself for being the biggest damn idiot he’s known. He ends up dropping his keys on the floor, and he can feel a vein throb in his neck in irritation. “God damn it all…” He curses under his breath and grabs his keys to try again.

Suddenly, the door swings open and when he looks up, he sees Rin staring back at him with a questioning look on his face. “Sousuke, what the hell are you doing to our door? Are you trying to break into your own room? I was just about to head to bed and then I heard all this scratching at the door like we have a damn dog loose in the dorms.”

Sousuke stands up slowly and sighs, “It’s not that...I don’t know, I just feel off.” He says, making his way into their room and locking the door behind him. 

Rin strolls over and sits down on the bottom bunk, which by the way, he won in their rock-paper-scissors fight the first week of school. “Off? What do you mean off?”

“Like...I don’t feel like myself...like I just had an out-of-body experience or something.” When Sousuke sees Rin still giving him the same questioning look, he decides to just drop the whole subject. “It’s nothing...just forget I said anything.” Sousuke says, turning away from Rin to dig through his dressers for a shirt to sleep in. 

“You’re shutting me out again, Sousuke.” Rin says, sucking his teeth in irritation. “What? Did you and Haru have a lover’s quarrel?” He teases him, but more suspicion is raised when Sousuke says nothing and continues avoiding eye contact with him. “So….you did?”

Sousuke turns around angrily, “It wasn’t a fight and we’re not lovers!” He doesn’t mean to yell, but his encounter with Haruka has put him on edge. A thousand questions were running through his mind and he doesn’t even know where to start. He doesn’t know what to think. He doesn’t know what to say.

Rin frowns, “Touchy subject I see… I’ll leave it alone for now. I don’t want to rub any salt in any open wounds. Goodnight, Sou.” Rin turns off the light switch and climbs into his own bed.

Sousuke sighs, climbing slowly onto his top bunk, his head barely missing the ceiling. He doesn’t know why Rin just won’t let him have the bottom bunk, he was taller and larger than him anyway so it would only make sense. Thinking about it pissed him off more than it should, but to keep the peace, he just accepts it as is. 

Sousuke immediately rolls into his covers, covering his head with his pillow, hoping it would help him not think about Haruka. However, whenever Sousuke closes his eyes, its as if the pained expression of Haruka finding him stand there was burned onto his retinas. 

What if she really was sick? Why is she going to the hospital? Why is she being so secretive? A thousand thoughts run through his mind, especially now that it was quiet and he was about to go to sleep. Of course, if he even could sleep, that is.

/////////////////////////////////////////

The next morning, Rin slaps his hands over his buzzing, overly-loud alarm that was currently ringing in his ear. He grumpily opens his eyes and sees the blaringly-red numbers in his eyes, _’5:00...this must be the devil’s hour.’_ He thinks. 

He rolls out of bed and drags his half-sleep body over to his dresser, looking past his uniforms, scanning for his workout clothes. Usually, he wakes Sousuke up, mostly against his will, to go on his morning jogs with him, but seeing at how distraught Sousuke was last night made Rin decide to leave him alone. He just might wake up and strangle him for waking him up early on Saturday morning, no matter what happened yesterday anyways.

Rin strips of his night clothes quickly, pulling on pair of black jogger pants and a plain white T-shirt. He grabs his keys, phone, and headphones, then quietly closes the door behind him, careful not to awaken the beast.

Once Rin is outside the dorm, he stretches his back and legs for a few minutes before starting his morning jog. _’Just three times around the perimeter of the school. No big deal…’_ He thinks to himself. He jogs down the sidewalk to the front gate, scanning his school ID card to open the entry gate. Rin quickly picks a direction to start running and when he passes by a corner on the road, he sees someone sitting on the bus stop. He pities the person that has to get up that early on a Saturday to ride on a bus.

As he jogs closer, his eyes widen as he sees that the person on the bus stop is indeed Haruka. Feeling someone coming closer, Haruka looks up from her phone and is equally as shocked to see Rin jogging her direction.

Rin gives her a light smile, “Good morning, Haru. Whatcha doing up so early on the weekend?” He asks.

Haru turns to face him, taking one earbud out of her ear to talk him, “Hey, Rin. I was just waiting for the bus. I have to go back home and it’s about a two hour bus ride back.”

Rin raises an eyebrow, “Home? Most of the student activities are on the weekends, so you should stay the weekend and have some fun! The swim team was thinking about going out as a group tonight if you want to tell the girls to come too.”

The thought of forced social interaction makes Haruka uneasy. “Yeah, no thanks. They can go, but I’m busy and this is kind of important.”

“I hope you’re not just saying that to try and avoid Sousuke.” Rin begins, “He came back to the room pretty frazzled at something. I asked if he had a fight with you or something.”

This catches Haruka’s attention and she immediately scowls, “What did he tell you?” She snaps, anger lacing her words. “Whatever he said was a lie.”

Rin immediately puts his hands up in defense, “Nothing, nothing! He wouldn’t tell me anything.” When he says this, he sees Haruka physically relax and he feels as if he can finally relax too. “Well whatever it is, nobody is telling me anything. You two should make up, though. Even if you’re not friends, you are still teammates so I think we should all be cordial.”

Haruka blinks at Rin and he can tell she is contemplating his words, but she still says nothing.

“Well I should get back to jogging. Have fun wherever you’re going.” Rin says, digging his phone from his pocket to resume his music. “Don’t forget to tell girls about tonight. If you get back early enough, you should come too. See ya later, Haru!” He waves at her once more, before running down the street.

When Rin is finally gone from sight, Haruka pulls out her phone and sends a quick text to her group chat. 

_Haru: The guys are going out tonight and invited us to come along. I can’t make it, but you guys can go._ She presses send, then puts her phone on ‘do not disturb’ for the rest of the morning.

///////////////////////////////////////

“So you’re sure you don’t want to go, Sou?” Rin asks, putting his last shoe on his foot. “Most of the team is going, plus Rei, Nagisa, and Makoto. I also invited Haruka in case you’re interested.” 

Sousuke chuckles, “It’s okay, Rin. I’m not really in the mood. You can have fun, I’ll stay here.”

Rin gives him a light frown, “Well okay, don’t brood too much here by yourself. If this is about Haru--”

“I don’t know why you keep mentioning her, Rin. It’s fine, this isn’t about her.” Sousuke lies, and he feels as if Rin knows he’s lying too, but Rin decides to just let it go just for the sake of it.

“Well alright, suit yourself. Don’t wait up.” Rin waves, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

A few minutes later, Sousuke hops down from his top bunk and peers out the window, staring at his group of friends heading out the front gate. He wasn’t able to get much sleep yesterday, so he was hoping to make up for it tonight. His thoughts seem to have calmed down a bit, but that is because he decided not to try and contact Haruka at all since their encounter on the rooftop. If glares could cut, he would have definitely been a dead man that day.

“So troublesome…” Sousuke says to himself, the whole situation is making his mind spin. He bends down to reach for a drink in his mini refrigerator, but he only grabs air. He sticks his head inside, analyzing its empty contents and sighs loudly. All he wanted to do was stay in his room and go to sleep, but now he actually has to go out of his room and has a _chance_ of human contact.

Sousuke slips on some socks and his jacket that is hanging behind the door, “Ugh…” he groans to himself before opening the door to head downstairs to the vending machine.

When Sousuke reaches the bottom floor, he quickly scurries to the vending machine area and lets out a guttural groan when he sees all of the machines are out of order. He grips both sides of the machine and leans his head against the glass, “I just want a drink…” He complains. 

“Yo, if you want a drink, the vending machines right outside are working.” A passing student says, snickering a bit at Sousuke’s dramatic display. He mutters a quick thanks and heads out the automatic doors, walking down the sidewalk a bit before reaching the machines. When he goes outside, he notices how dark it is for this time of the day.

He quickly inserts his money, gets his drink, then pops it open while he sits on the bench. Whenever he is troubled, he likes to be by himself and stay outside where he can breathe in fresh air. Some might say it’s him bottling his emotions since he wants to keep it to himself, but this is the only way he knows how to cope. Usually, he likes to be on the roof because he knows nobody would see him up there, but he was scared of going up there again honestly.

Sousuke’s senses go on high alert when he feels someone coming up the sidewalk to the side of him. He squints his eyes, trying to look at the figure from under the sidewalk lighting. As the figure got closer, he feels his heart drop. It’s _fucking_ Haruka. Damn, just as his luck would have it.

Haruka’s eyes widen at Sousuke’s presence on the bench, but she just gives a quick huff of breath and breaks eye contact, attempting to walk past him in a hurry and without saying a word.

Struggling to find the right words to say, Sousuke speaks up quickly. “So...you’re just going to walk past me?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” She snaps back.

“So you’re the avoidant type I see.” Sousuke remarks.

“Look who's talking. The swim team went out tonight, but yet you’re here by yourself. Were you hoping I with them too so you could be alone?”

Sousuke leans back against the bench, “Listen, Haruka. I don’t think we can avoid this any longer and my conscience is getting the best of me.” He pauses, “I know it was wrong for me to listen to your phone conversation yesterday and I’m sorry. But, I want to know what you meant when you said those things yesterday.”

Haruka looks around the campus, and nobody is outside but her and Sousuke. “You can want to know all you want, but I don’t have to tell you anything. I’m not obligated to tell you.”

He shrugs in response, “Sure, you’re not obligated, but it might make you feel better. Just think of me as your personal emotional punching bag.” He jokes, but he sees that she is not amused in the slightest, “I’m just concerned about you, that’s all. Your words have been troubling me since I heard them. It’s like...it has been repeating like a reverberating echo in my ears all day.”

Seeing his sincerity, Haruka gives up on her stubbornness and cautiously takes a seat on the bench with him, but at the same time, putting several feet between the two of their bodies. “Why were you on the roof yesterday?” She mutters.

“That’s literally _my_ spot. I’ve been going up there since I started here at the school. It’s just the place where I can be free from the stresses of school life and just be like...alone, for a while y’know.” Sousuke admits, “I was just trying to clear my mind from the stress from the math homework we were doing, honest.”

Haruka gives him a light nod, accepting his answer. “Well sorry I took your spot. I didn’t know anyone was there. I found the key one day when Makoto tripped over the mat right outside the door.”

“I usually sit on the opposite side of the door because it gives the best view of the ocean. It looks beautiful at night.”

“It looks beautiful all the time.” Haruka corrects him, but it makes him laugh a bit.

“Right, right.” There was several moments of silence between the two of them, Sousuke searching his mind for the right words to say. Not even the right words, but the right phrasing. “So...Haru...why didn’t you go out tonight?”

“Busy.” She responds vaguely.

“Busy….at the hospital? Rin says he saw you at the bus stop really early this morning.” Sousuke says carefully, knowing he’s skating on thin ice.

Haruka’s face twists a bit at his question, but she doesn’t respond.

Sousuke turns to face her, “Haruka, be honest with me. Are you sick?” He pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts, “Rin and I have noticed your swimming style has been declining for the past few days and we were wondering what was up. I mean...if there is something medically wrong, you need to tell us --”

“I’m not sick.” Haruka blurts out quickly. When Sousuke looks at her expectantly, she hesitates to continue. “It’s not me, Sousuke. My grandma….” Haruka feels the words being caught in her throat, but she attempts to force them out. “My grandma is sick and in the hospital.”

“Haru, I’m sorry --” Sousuke feels his heart plunge into his stomach. All of the words he heard Haruka say over the phone are starting to make sense and the puzzle pieces in his mind are starting to snap together into miserable, unforgiving pieces. 

“Don’t be. There’s nothing you or I could do about it anyway.” Haruka says bitterly. She stops talking, but when Sousuke keeps looking at her to keep going, she can only sigh. “On Wednesdays when I leave practice early, I’m always going home to make sure my grandma makes it to her appointments on time. She had a CAT scan today that was in another town so I had to go home and pick her up on the bus.”

Sousuke looks at her sympathetically, “Oh…” He manages to say.

Haruka casts her gaze down to the sidewalk to avoid his own, “My parents have been busy overworking themselves since basically the moment I was born They let my grandmother raise me instead, while they work abroad. My dad doesn’t call me and my mom only calls to nag and pester me about things I am doing wrong in her eyes.” She admits, “Don’t even know why they decided to have a baby if they were so damn busy, to be honest.” 

Sousuke decides to keep quiet to give Haruka time to rant and express herself to her full extent. “Did you know that my parents told me to give up swimming so I could focus on my studies and find a “real profession”? Whatever that means.” She gives a bitter laugh, “They’ve never even shown up to one of my competitions.”

Haruka gives a quick glance in Sousuke’s direction to see his reaction. When his face doesn’t offer one, she continues, “My grandma is basically like a mother _and_ a father to me, so now that I’m in my final year of high school, I was looking forward to graduating and going to college in order to make sure I would enough money to support her...to thank her for everything she has ever done for me. She didn’t have to raise me, but she chose to and I can’t ever repay her fully for that.”

Haruka pauses to catch her breath, “She was the one who enrolled me into swimming classes to begin with. Without her, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today. Without her, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking with you on this stupid bench.” Her throat was starting to hurt. She doesn’t _ever_ talk this much, even to her own friends, but it was like she couldn’t stop. She has been bottling up her words, her anger, her sadness, and her bitterness into one giant pool and the dam has finally broke. 

“At her appointment today, the doctor basically said it doesn’t look good. I don’t know what to do. I felt like throwing up, but I know that my grandmother wouldn’t want me to worry over her. I can’t help it…I know its her diagnosis, but in a way, it also felt like the doctor was telling me I’m dying too in a way.” Haruka’s voice cracks a bit at her last sentence. “I don’t have money. I don’t have a job. I don’t have a car. All I do is go to school and pretend everything is okay. I’m the worst, really.” 

“Haru, it’s not --” Sousuke begins to say, but she quickly cuts him off.

“It’ not my fault, I know. I just feel powerless. I love her so much, yet there’s nothing I can do for her.” She leans forward and sinks her head into her palms, face still away from meeting Sousuke’s own. “I just hope…”

“You hope you make her proud one day, right?” Sousuke says, causing her to turn her body towards him. “You hope that one day, she would be able to see your in your most successful moment and look at you with pride, right? You hope that she’s there standing beside you at your life’s greatest moments.”

She gives him a quick nod, “She’s all I have, Sousuke.” Haruka finally turns her head to meet his gaze, a sad smile forming on her face. “Don’t look at me so pitifully, Sousuke.” 

“I can’t help it, Haru. I can’t sit here and say that I can imagine what you’re going through right now.” Sousuke can’t pinpoint exactly how he feels, he’s never lost a close relative on either side of his family.

“Sorry I’m telling you all this. I know it’s none of your concern, so…” Haruka says, standing up abruptly to gather her bag and head inside. Almost immediately, Sousuke stands up and grabs her wrist as she attempts to walk past him.

“Haru, I know I’m a bit hypocritical when I’m saying this, but...it’s emotionally destructive to keep this all to yourself. I might not understand everything, but I’m always here to listen. I want to listen...I _will_ listen to anything you have to say if it makes you feel better.” Sousuke grips her wrist tighter, but not enough to hurt her. Although her back is turned to him, she can see her body shaking a bit.

Haruka doesn’t pull away from his grip, but she still faces away from him. “Why are you making this your business, Sousuke? It doesn’t concern you so why….” Her voice cracks for the second time that night.

“I care about you, Haru. I can’t help it. I can’t help myself.” His grip turns into a stern one, full of support and reassurance. “These past few months you’ve spent at Samezuka….I’ve grown closer to you than anyone else.”

“If I could take away your pain and put in on myself, I would in a heartbeat.” He admits, “But since I can’t do that, share your pain with me. I want to know that you’re alright. I don’t want you to hide things from me until you break down.”

Haruka slowly turns around and faces Sousuke, who is peering down at her, his eyes softening when her watery gaze meets his. He reaches up and cups her cheek, his thumb slowly passing by the ends of her eyelids, wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall soon. “Don’t cry, Haru. It’ll be okay. We can get through this….” He pauses for a moment, “Together.” He places his forehead gently on hers, giving her a small smile that only she could see.

When a single tear falls from her eyes and down her cheek, Sousuke feels an overwhelming sense of protection coming over him. He steps forward, gently wrapping his arms around Haruka’s shoulders and pulling her into a tight embrace. They both say nothing, standing in a silence, except for the occasional whimper of Haruka attempting to hold back her tears. 

Although neither of them is saying anything, the silence and his embrace comforts Haruka more than words ever could. Hesitantly, she reaches around wraps her hands around Sosuke’s waist, leaning her face into his shoulder. His warmth emanating from his body envelopes her, making her feel more safe and comfortable than she has been in a long time. 

When more tears fall from her eyes, she quickly buries them onto his shirt and he gently rubs the small of her back, comforting her wordlessly. “Oi, oi. I said you could talk to me, not soak my shirt. Now the autumn drafts are going to make extra cold.” He jokes innocently, trying to make her smile, even if it’s just a little bit.

Haruka pulls away from his hug at his comment, “Jerk.” She says, but he knows there is no malice behind her words. She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands, “Sorry for crying on you.” 

Sosuke offers her a smile, “I was joking, really. I’ll lend you my shirt and shoulder anytime.” He reaches up and brushes the residual tears away from her eyes. “In fact, if it will help, we can take a walk around campus. It’s getting kind of late, so it should be relatively empty. I know it’s not the roof, but its a close alternative. Here, take my jacket --” He says, quickly disrobing his black Samezuka swim team jacket and offers it to her.

“Are you sure?” Haruka says, hesitating before she grabs the jacket from his grasp.

“I’m sure. Can’t have my little mackerel girl getting cold.” He smirks.

“I told you to stop that….and I’m not little.” Haruka frowns at him.

“Big Mackerel princess?” He offers with a smile, trying to make her feel even a little bit better.

“Really?” Haruka rolls her eyes. “Just call me Haru like everyone else.”

“Okay, fine. Haru it is. But…” Sousuke trails off, taking a couple of steps forward.

“But what?”

Sousuke turns round, facing Haru. “When we’re alone, let me call you Haruka.” He smiles at her, “Just between you and me.” He stretches out his arm, extending his hand to her.

When he smiles at her, Haruka feels a slight heat rising to her face. “F-fine…” She mutters before extending her own hand to meet his. He gently rearranges their hands so that his bigger hand clasps her smaller, slender hand. 

“Blush looks good on you, Haruka.” Sousuke chuckles, giving her hand a light squeeze. “Shall we?”

“Shut up.”


	5. jacket

The next morning, Haruka finds herself sleeping longer and more soundly than she has in the past few months. In the back of her mind, she partially thanks her talk with Sousuke last night for relieving her of some bottled up stress. However, in the front of her mind, she’ll never admit it. At least, to his face, she won’t.

Haruka finally opens her eyes when several, bright rays of sunshine find their way past their blinds and onto her face. She sits up slowly, brushing away any stray hairs and morning residue in her eyes, but at the same time doesn’t manage to open them.

“Good morning, Haru-chan!” A voice shrills in his right ear. 

She finally opens her eyes and sees Nagisa, eyes bright and open, a few mere inches from her face. Nagisa looks really, _really_ excited and giddy and Haruka can only wonder what she is up to. She glances around and sees an equally happy Rei and a flustered Makoto staring at her too.

“Morning, Nagisa. What are you and Rei doing in our room?” Haruka eyes them suspiciously.

“We came back kind of late last night and we still wanted to hang out, so we just ended up sleeping here on the floor. Hope you don’t mind.” Rei answers, still giving Haruka an overly-eager smile. She knows something fishy is going on, but nobody is saying anything to her specifically.

Nagisa promptly grasps Haruka’s hand, “Most importantly, Haru-chan. How was _your_ night?”

Haruka gives her an incredulous look, “What are you getting at?”

“Well we tried texting you last night during our get together, but you didn’t answer. All three of us tried!” Makoto starts.

“--And usually you’re the first one to wake up out of all of us in the morning, but today you’re the last.” Rei points out too.

“And most importantly…” Nagisa scurries over to the desk chair in the corner of the room and grabs a jacket. “What are you doing with _this?_ ” Nagisa says, holding up Sousuke’s jacket. 

Suddenly, almost like an ocean wave, memories of what her and Sousuke did last night hit her hard, flooding her brain with all the words and moments they exchanged. A small blush forms on her cheeks before getting out of bed completely, “It’s just a jacket, it’s not a big deal.”

“”Just a jacket” She says…” Nagisa mocks, “ _Just_ a jacket? It’s not just any jacket, it’s _Sousuke’s_ jacket!” 

“How do you know?” Haruka asks for proof.

Almost as if Nagisa knew that would be Haruka’s next question, she came ready with the evidence. She dug her hands in the jacket pockets and pulled out a lanyard. Of course, as luck would have it, Sousuke’s student ID is attached on the bottom. She waves it in her face, “Try again, Haru-chan.”

“Nothing happened last night, you guys. I was coming back last night and he happened to be outside too. He saw I looked upset and I ended up telling him about my grandma.” Haruka says. It wasn’t a lie, but rather, a very general story.

“So….how does the jacket come into play?” Rei asks.

Makoto sighs, “There’s no need to hold back with us, Haru. You can trust us.” 

Nagisa jumps in too, “Yeah, so spill the damn details Haru. Stop being so vague! We only want what’s best for you! We are your best friends, aren’t we?”

Haruka sighs, feeling as if she’s been emotionally mugged by all three of them at once. “When I told him about my grandma, I ended up crying. He pulled me into a hug and told me everything would be okay. To make me feel better and to get my mind off of things, we walked around the school a couple of times just talking. It was kind of chilly last night so he gave me his jacket. And….” Haruka trails off, debating on whether or not she should mention the last part or not.

“And…?” They all say in unison.

“He….held my hand last night.” Haruka avoids their gazes when he hears overly-dramatic gasps from all three of them at the same time.

“It was just hand-over-hand and not interlaced...if that means anything.” Haruka tries to clear herself up, but it was to no avail.

“Haru….” Makoto says, looking as if she’s on the verge of tears. “We’re so happy for you. Sousuke is great guy!” 

“There’s nothing to be happy over,” Haruka begins, “We’re not dating or anything. He’s just a friend.”

Haruka’s denial causes all of them to scoff in unison, while Nagisa bursts into fits of laughter. “Good one, Haru-chan.” She says, still giggling next to Haruka.

“Can’t a man and woman be friends without some romantic implication behind it?” Haruka pushes the covers off her body, then swivels around in her bed to face the other three. “All we did was hug and loosely hold hands for a little. I do that with you guys all the time.”

Nagisa nags, “But it’s _different_ Haru-chan!”

“How so?”

“Because he’s a guy and you like him, Haru!” Rei adds, “You’ve been talking to each other since the first day of school and it’s halfway through the year now.”

Haruka gives a non-committal grunt, “I never said that. I just enjoy his company and he’s easy to talk to.”

“--And happens to be extremely handsome.” Rei adds onto Haruka’s sentence, receiving a nod from Makoto in agreement. “Seems like the perfect combo to me.”

“Whoa!” Nagisa shouts, reaching an epiphany. “You should go give him his jacket back! His room number is on his ID!” 

Haruka frowns, “I was just going to give it back to him when I see him at practice tomorrow.”

As determined as ever, Nagisa doesn’t budge. “No, _now_ Haru. So you get to see him two days in a row!”

Haruka shrugs, “I don’t know...I feel like it’s kind of...desperate? Like I’m grasping at straws for a reason to see him.”

“Don’t you want to see him?” Rei asks.

Haruka hesitates for a moment before answering, “...I wouldn’t mind....”

“Then _freaking_ go, Haru! Assert your dominance as a strong, independent woman and go see him first!” Nagisa groans, pushing Haruka toward the doorway. “We don’t judge in this room!”

Haruka can only sigh, “Okay...let me put pants on before I go rushing into the boys’ dorm level first.” She rummage through her closet and pulls on white tank top and loose black sweatpants. She quickly ties her long hair up into a messy bun, before grabbing the jacket from Nagisa’s cold, prying hands.

“You look great, Haru-chan! A perfect mix of relaxed and “I didn’t wear this tight tank top just for you.” “ Nagisa gives a mischevious wink.

“I’m leaving.” Haruka sighs, putting on her slippers before leaving the room.

“We’re all rooting for you, Haru-chan!” She hears them shout before closing the door.

Haruka walks down the hallway at a nice speed, trying to get this done as quickly and painlessly as possible. She quickly jogs down the staircase to the third level of the dorms, scanning the last names posted outside each door. When she finally reaches Room 304, she double checks the name plates attached to the wall. Sure enough, it reads “Matsuoka” and “Yamazaki.” She takes a deep breath, exhaling quickly before briefly knocking on the door.

She’s nervous and it’s making her palms sweat in anticipation. When she hears their voices on the other side of the door, her anxiety kicks into full gear. Just when she thinks this is the worst idea her friends have ever come up with, it’s too late. 

Rin swings the door open, “Oh! Haru? What are you doing here?” He asks.

“Is...Sousuke there?” Haruka asks hesitantly. Her own question is answered when she hears him shout from inside the room, “Rin, who is it?” All of a sudden, for some reason unbeknownst to her, she can hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Rin’s lips form a huge smirk, “Your girl is here to see you....bright and early.”

As if on cue, Sousuke’s head pops into the doorway and he immediately smiles, “Oh, hey Haru.” He pushes Rin out of the doorway and steps through, closing the door behind him.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing here?” Sousuke asks, still smiling at the smaller girl in front him.

“I just wanted to return your jacket.” Haruka admits shyly, “Your ID was in the pocket and I thought you might need it today.”

Sousuke grabs the jacket from Haruka’s hands, “Thanks, Haruka.” He glances at her one time over, “You look cute. Is this how you look every morning?” He says, face looking as smug as ever.

Haruka can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed at his compliment, “It’s just sweatpants and tank top. No big deal.”

“Well if you look good in sweatpants, I assume it can go only up from here.” Sousuke laughs and reaches out to tussle Haruka’s messy bun a bit.

Haruka frowns and swats his hand away playfully, “Stop it, Sousuke. I don’t know how to respond to compliments.”

He chuckles, “Fine, fine. Although I’m sure you get them all the time.”

“Not really.”

“Hmm…” He hums in disbelief. He opens his mouth to say something else, but a loud growl comes from Haruka’s stomach and she immediately crosses hers arms over it. This can’t be happening...not right now.

Her eyes shift to the ground, trying not look at his face which probably looks incredibly smug at this moment. “Sorry...I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I just woke up.”

He can’t help but laugh at her embarassed face, “In such a hurry to come see me, you didn’t even eat breakfast?” He teases.

Haruka frowns at him, “Shut up, it’s not even like that. I was just doing you a favor.”

“I’m only joking, of course.” Sousuke says with a smile, “Say, if you’re not doing anything, we should go get some breakfast together.”

“Together?” Haruka repeats incredulously.

He nods, “Yes together, as in you and I. What do you say?”

“The buses don’t even run on Sundays.” Haruka points out.

“If that’s your only qualm with this, then say no more.” Sousuke says, digging in his pocket. He pulls out a ring full of keys and picks one out specifically, “I have a car on campus. Now you have no excuse, so let’s go.” He smiles at her once more.

Haruka swears that if he doesn’t stop flashing that damn award-winning smile at her, she’s going to strangle him herself. Whenever he smiles at her, she can’t say no to him. Most importantly, it makes her body heat up so much and it’s such a foreign feeling to her. She usually doesn’t get flustered or embarrassed, but for some reason, whenever she is in front of Sousuke, she finds herself at a loss for words.

“I haven’t even showered yet...” Haruka says, trying to find any excuse in the book.

“So...go shower, then come knock on my door again. I’ll be here, I promise.” 

Haruka looks at him directly in his face, her heart immediately beating faster when they lock eyes. She knows as soon as she did that, she fucked up, big time. “Alright. Give me 30 minutes.”

Joy fills Sousuke’s face, “Awesome. I’ll change my clothes too, so I’ll see you soon.” 

Haruka waves goodbye, and turns on her heels to go back up to her room, but stops when she hears Sousuke call her name behind her.

“Hey, Haruka!” He shouts from the spot they were both standing at previously.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t look too pretty.” He smirked once more before going back in his room. Unfortunately for him, he did it before he could see the blush form across her face.

Sousuke could only grin at himself as he walked inside his room, at least, until he was met eye-to-eye with a certain red-headed boy with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

Sousuke raised an eyebrow, “What?” he asked skeptical of his friend’s intentions.

“Don’t look too pretty? Are you serious? You sound so cheesy right now, you’re laying it on so thick.” Rin teased his childhood friend.

“Eh? Jealous now are we?” Sousuke laughed, elbowing his friend playfully in the ribs.

“As if, loverboy.”

Sousuke couldn’t help but laugh at Rin again, “Love? Nobody said anything about that. I just think she’s interesting.”

“If you say so, Sou.”

/////////////////////////

When Haruka arrived back in her room, she was immediately bombarded with questions from all three of her friends at the same time.

“How did it go, Haru? It must have went well, you look so happy!” Makoto exclaimed excitedly.

“I do not…” Haruka attempts to deny it as much as she can, but she can still feel the residual blush from Sousuke’s words on her face.

“We were all wondering how it went! Tell us all the details!” Rei says, grabbing Haru’s hands and dragging her into the room further.

Haruka stays quiet for a moment, before speaking up, “He...asked me to get breakfast with him. Right now.”

All three of them gasped at the same time and practically yell, “Haru has a date!”

“It’s not a date, it’s just breakfast.” Haruka corrects their false claims. She doesn't want them to think anything more than what it actually is, despite how their minds twist words to what they actually want to hear.

“Yeah, a breakfast date.” Nagisa smirks.

Haruka shrugs, “Call it what you want.”

“You go shower Haru, and we’ll pick out your outfit! Leave it to us!” When Nagisa pushes her right back out the door she came in, Haruka can only wonder what she just got herself into.

Despite the doubts and hesitation she had in the back of her mind, Haruka gathers her bath supplies and towel and heads out the door. When she gets to the bathroom down the hallway, she peers inside and sees nobody else in the stalls. A little bit relieved nobody else is there, she steps into the shower and immediately turns it to the hot side.

Haruka leisurely grabs a bar of soap and gently lathers the soap onto her wash cloth, the sound of the water filling the deafening silence of the washroom. The only downside to attending Samezuka was that she didn’t have a bathtub so she could laze in the water whenever she wanted, so she would just have to wait until she got home or graduated….whichever came first.

As she began to rub her cloth on her body, she began thinking….why was she even getting ready in the first place? Was it really a date with Sousuke, even if it was just for a simple breakfast? Technically, he didn’t call it a date, but they’re going to be alone, going to eat a meal, and he’s driving her, so is that what constitutes a date in the first place? She could do the same thing with her grandparents, that doesn’t necessarily make it a date? _Right?_ What does she even know? She hasn’t had much boy interaction to begin with, nevermind a date.

So far, outside of normal touches between friends, he has held her hand once and given her a hug. Not just any hug, she confesses in her mind, but it was very, very intimate with the way he held her. They've known each other for a few months, since technically they met on the first day school began on that fated day in the cafeteria. Not only that, but they see each other everyday, multiple times a day, including class, swim practice, and after school homework sessions. So why is she getting nervous now? 

Perhaps, Haruka thinks, that she is moving too fast with Sousuke and not making clear boundaries on what she is or is not comfortable with him doing. If it had been anyone else, she would have stopped them from touching her a long time ago. Haruka makes it clear to herself, however, that she has never once felt uncomfortable around him or his touches. In a way, his large, warm hands make her feel safe in a world where she sometimes feels alone, and it makes her less anxious for the days to come. There is no malice or hidden intention behind his actions and his touches, so there isn’t a real reason for her to pull away and distance herself from him.

There’s no doubt in Haruka’s mind that there is some level of attraction from her to him, even if she wouldn’t like to admit it out loud. Sousuke is tall, handsome, kind, smart, toned, and a damn great swimmer and athlete. On the other hand, he can be abrasive, blunt, and is extremely popular with the other girls at Samezuka. Could somebody like her even compete with them? Haruka definitely didn’t think she was unattractive, but on her bad days, she can’t help but think of her worst characteristics and qualities over the ones she thinks make her, _her_. It's almost as if a tiny voice in the back of her mind constantly reminds her that other people are better, that she's not good enough, and that one day, everyone she holds dear will eventually stray away from her in pursuit of something better. It's this same voice that constantly puts her on edge, but also puts pressure on her to push away others that try to get close to her because eventually, as everything and everyone else, they will end up leaving her alone. This principle applies to everything: school, swimming, friends, and especially, _family._

Haruka’s introspection is suddenly cut short when she feels a sudden surge of ice cold water on her skin, causing her to yelp and retract into the shower corner suddenly. She is quickly knocked back to reality and checks the clock on the bathroom wall, seeing that she has went over her allotted time in the shower. She sighs, carefully turning the shower dial off and wraps the towel around her body. Haruka wraps a smaller towel on her hair before existing the washroom, closing the door quietly behind her. 

She makes her way back to her room and when she turns the knob, the door swings open again and she is greeted by her regular overzealous trio of friends.

Nagisa quickly grabbed Haruka’s hand and led her into the room and towards the bed. “Ta-da!” Nagisa shouts, “This is the best outfit we have made yet! All thanks to Rei-chan’s beautiful selection of clothes!” She gives Rei a thumbs up. Haruka peers at the clothes on the bed and she has got to admit, the clothes they picked out look comfortable enough to fit her style, but a bit more fashion-forward than what she would normal wear or pick out herself.

“This is fine.” Haruka admits to the other three girls’ delight. 

“ _Finally_ no complains from Haru-chan! What about your hair?” Nagisa asks, pointing to Haruka’s still towel-wrapped hair.

This causes Haruka to frown, “No. I’m not doing anything special, just a ponytail probably.”

“Don’t you want to look good on your date?” Nagisa pouts.

“It’s not a date.” Haruka stresses once again, “I’m going to get dressed so don’t stare at me.” She signals them to turn around. To their dismay, they oblige, turning around to face the nearest wall. 

Haruka's residual shower thoughts are replaying over and over again in her mind, distracting her from getting dressed. When they hear Haruka sigh, Makoto can’t help but speak up. “Haru, is there something wrong? I would have thought you would have been happier to go out with Sousuke.”

“I am happy.” Haruka corrects her, “I just....have doubts.”

“Doubts about what?” Makoto asks, delving deeper. Haruka knows that she can’t hide anything from Makoto. After all, she is the one who knows her the best and always knows what she’s thinking, even if she doesn’t vocalize it. 

“I just…” She hesitates for a moment, gathering all of her thoughts. “I don’t -- I don’t want to dive headfirst into something I’m not sure about. How do I know if this is going to be a sure thing?”

“You don’t know.” Makoto responds, “I guess that’s the point in hanging out with each other to see if it would or could work overall.”

“That’s the thing…” Haruka admits, “I don’t want to be left hanging in case Sousuke decides he doesn’t like me. I mean...what is so special about me specifically? What's stopping him from just changing his mind about me?”

When she hears this, Makoto turns around with more ferocity than she intended, “Wait a minute right there, Haru. Don’t you ever put yourself down like that!” 

Nagisa and Rei also join Makoto, “Mako-chan is right! Never put yourself lower than anyone else! You’re beautiful, smart, kind, and a great friend!” Nagisa adds.

“We’re not saying to put all of your trust into Sousuke, but at least just try a little bit. Just enough to think that he’s not set out to break your heart.” Rei says, pushing up her glasses meticulously. “It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work out, but you shouldn’t extinguish the flames that are just starting to kindle, Haru. You’ll never know what could have been if you don’t even let it begin to start with. You have nothing to worry about, Haru. If Sousuke gets to know the real you, then he'll see the same great qualities we see in you.” 

Haruka feels her heart warm at their words, and suddenly feels the urge to fight back small tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Overwhelmed by their unconditional love and support, she can't help but express how she feels. “Thank you guys…” She says, “So much. For everything, always.” She gives them an honest smile, and they couldn’t help but hug her tightly. Their dear friend, that they have all grown up with since they were young, was beginning to branch out of her comfort zone and open up to other people besides them, and they couldn’t be more proud. 

Their moment was abruptly interrupted when they heard a knock on the door. Although still clad in her towel, Haruka walks over and answers the door anyway….and who else could it be besides, Sousuke, who is now staring back at her wide-eyed.

“H-Haru, I uh --” Sousuke stutters, becoming a bit flustered to meet a naked Haruka still in a towel. “I was just checking in since it’s been a while and you weren’t answering your phone. Just wanted to see if everything was okay.”

“Oh sorry, I spent a little more time in the shower than I anticipated.” She apologizes, “Give me ten minutes. I’ll be ready.”

“Alright, I’ll just...wait outside your door I guess.” Sousuke gives her a smile, before shutting the door on his own.

Before Haruka turns around, she can already feel all of their gazes on her back. “Don’t you guys even say anything.” She warns, before quickly stripping herself of her towel and begins to get dressed. 

After a few minutes, Haruka is for the most part, done getting ready despite what Nagisa and Rei think she could do to improve her look. “Damn it, Haru-chan! He's so eager to go out with you! Let me at least put some lipstick on you!” Nagisa leaps towards Haruka with the stick in her hands, but Makoto catches her mid-jump, restraining the over-enthusiastic friend.

“Nagisa, Haru doesn’t want that.” Makoto sighs, tightening her grip on the smaller girl's abdomen. 

In return, she could only pout. “Fine.” She says, sticking her bottom lip out further than necessary. “At least put this on, this lip balm is clear and unscented.” She takes a little chapstick out of her pocket and rubs it on Haruka’s lips gently. "It's the least you can do."

“Alright, this is enough. I’ll text you guys.” Haruka says, pushing Nagisa off of her after a few seconds. She grabs her purse, phone, and keys, and waves to her friends before heading out the door. 

When Haruka closes the door behind her and locks it, she turns around to see Sousuke waiting outside her door, as promised. He was quietly scrolling on his phone, trying his best to ignore the occassional stare and whispers thrown toward his direction from the other girls on the dorm level. When he hears the door shut, he look up from his phone and smiles at Haruka, “You ready to go?”

She gives a smile back, "Yeah, lets go."


	6. crepes

“So, where would you like to eat? Any place specific?” Sousuke asks, digging his car keys out of his pocket. He quickly presses his key fob and unlocks the door for both of them from a distance.

“Actually yes.” Haruka points out, “There’s a place I discovered by here and I like to go there on the weekends with Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa.”

“Of course. You four are joined at the hip.” Sousuke chuckles, “It’s a good thing, though. It’s rare to have a friend so close, especially multiple, so you should cherish it. All three of them.” He says, holding up three fingers.

“Yeah, I’ve been realizing it more and more every day.” Haruka begins, “They really help me through a lot.”

“That’s a good thing.” Sousuke gives her a smile, “Oh, my car is right over there. Excuse the mess inside of it though. The only other person who rides in my car is Rin and he throws his trash on the floor.”

“Really?” Haruka raises her eyebrow, “I can’t imagine Rin trashing other people’s things.”

“I guess that’s what happens when he becomes your best friend. He just does what he wants.” Sousuke laughs, and the sound of it makes Haruka smile. 

Sousuke turns the key in the ignition and soon enough, the car turns on and soft acoustic music begins playing through the speakers. “Alright, let’s go. I promise I’ll drive extra careful since you’re in the car.”

“You should drive carefully anyway even if it’s just you.”

“As blunt as ever, Haruka.” Sousuke laughs, and Haruka can’t help but look at him when he says her full first name. _Haruka_. The way her name rolls off his tongue makes her soul shiver, but in the greatest way she can’t explain. 

Haruka turns the navigation on her phone and sees that her regular one-hour bus ride to her favorite local restaurant is only fifteen minutes by car. When her phone map begins giving Sousuke directions, Haruka makes sure to keep quiet so that he can hear the instructions carefully. It had been a few minutes of silence in the car, albeit comfortable, Haruka can feel Sousuke giving her nervous side glances while he is driving.

Suddenly, she feels a warm on her forearm, suddenly reminding her that she’s not alone in the car. “Yo, Haru? You space out so much I wonder if there’s anyone actually in there.” Sousuke jokes.

“I’m just thinking about some stuff.” Haruka gives him a slight pout.

“Don’t think too hard, Haruka.” He says, “And don’t be nervous. It’s just me.” 

He’s right. It’s _just_ him. He’s seen her almost everyday for half the school year, so what makes it any different today? They’ve been alone plenty of times before doing their math coursework together, but today just seems a bit different.

“You’ve spaced out so much, you didn’t notice that we’re almost to the cafe.” He carefully retracts his hand when he notices Haruka’s attention on it. “What’s on your mind? I’m willing to listen.” Sousuke reaches out to a knob on the control panel, turning down the volume of his music to listen to Haruka’s quieter voice.

“It’s nothing, really.” Haruka says.

“Liar.” Sousuke counters, “I know your thinking face by now. You can’t trick me.”

Haruka hums a bit, “I was just thinking….I never took you for the acoustic music type.” 

He chuckles a bit, “I find it relaxing, actually. I actually play guitar, but I usually do it when Rin isn’t there because I get a bit nervous when other people are listening.”

Haruka raises an eyebrow, “You get nervous over playing the guitar but you don’t get nervous in televised swimming competitions with huge crowds?”

“Yeah, I guess I am a bit odd, huh?” Sousuke laughs softly, “Maybe I just got used to swimming in front of crowds. Maybe I need to start playing in front of an audience to gain more confidence.”

“I’d like that.” 

Sousuke glances in Haruka’s direction in surprise, “Hm?”

“I’d like to hear you play sometime.” She clarifies, trying to fight a light blush forming on her cheeks. “I think this music is really relaxing and calming. It really helps clear your mind.”

“Sure.” Sousuke gives her an earnest smile, warming her own heart even more. At this point, Haruka isn’t sure if it’s the heat in the car or the heat from her own body that’s making her feel hotter than usual. Either way, she finds that every time he smiles, laughs, or even looks in her direction, she begins to experience new feelings. _Foreign_ feelings, that she keeps trying to supress as they come to fruition, but as the days pass, she finds it more and more difficult to keep doing so.

“Oh, looks like we’re here.” Sousuke says, pulling into a parking spot near the front of the cafe. He puts the car in park, then routinely pulls the keys out of the ignition. Today, however, which is not a normal part of his routine, he rushes out the car and jogs quickly to Haruka’s side of the car, opening the door for her. 

For a moment, Haruka contemplates telling him that he doesn’t need to do anything extra for her and that she’s capable of opening up her own door, but no matter how she tries to word it in her mind, she decides to just keep quiet and accept it. “Thank you, Sousuke.” She says simply.

“It’s no problem, really.” He smiles at her, “Let’s go in? I’m pretty hungry.” Sousuke follows behind Haruka to the entrance of the cafe. When he looks inside, he sees it’s a pretty simple place, but the smells and aromas meeting his nose were surprisingly welcoming. In fact, it was making him more and more hungry by the second.

They both sit down at a nearby table that was more suited for four people, but because he’s a bigger guy, Sousuke thinks he’s more comfortable at the more spacious seat anyway. “Ah, here are the menus.” Sousuke says, grabbing both from the side of the table, but Haruka quickly denies his hand.

“Thanks, but I already know what I want.” She says simply.

“You come here that often? ” He chuckles, “What do you get? Pancakes? Omelettes? Crepes?”

“Mackerel.” She deadpans, causing him to look up from his menu in ultimate confusion.

“I understand fish for lunch, but for breakfast too?” 

“I eat fish for every meal, every day.” Haruka corrects him, waiting for his judgemental response, but instead received a hearty laugh.

“Just when I thought I was the odd one.” Sousuke jokes, “That’s fine. I think I know what I want to order too.” 

Sousuke flags down the waitress and orders their food, placing the menus back in their original place. When the waitress finally leaves, Sousuke turns back around to face Haruka, who was steadily tapping away on her phone.

“Your friends checking to see if I kidnapped you or not?” He jokes.

Haruka quickly finishes typing and sets her phone down on the table. “Kind of.” Haruka says, “They keep saying weird things.”

“Weird things like what?”

“Just...things.” Haruka tries to be vague, but when Sousuke looks at her expectantly for more details, she tries to avoid him as much as possible.

“Hmmm?” He wordlessly prods further, causing Haruka to sigh.

“Just wishing me luck on my breakfast….” She waits for a moment, “...Date.” She swallows hesitantly. 

Sousuke props his elbow on the table and leans his head into his palm, “What’s weird about that?” 

“It’s just strange.”

Sousuke locks eyes with Haruka for a moment, “Would you prefer not to call this a date if it makes it less strange?”

“It’s not that I think it’s strange to be out with you…” Haruka begins to mutter, “I just don’t have much experience with….this.”

“What’s ‘this’?” Sousuke asks.

“Men, in general.” She pauses to look for a reaction of his face, but she doesn’t see one. “This is my first time out with a guy, so to call it a date makes me a bit nervous.”

Sousuke doesn’t say anything for a while, but then he bursts out with laughter, causing Haruka to frown deeply at him. “It’s not funny.” She pouts.

Sousuke wipes his eyes from his laughter, “Sorry, sorry. It’s just...you looked so sincere and genuine right now. It was really cute.” He tries to stifle his laughter more when he sees Haruka blush lightly.

“Stop laughing.” She says, getting a bit flustered.

“I can’t help it. You are just so _endearing_. It’s honestly so refreshing.” Sousuke gives her a smile through his laughter, and it happens to calm her down a bit. “I’m glad Samezuka lightened the hell up and let women in the school. Now guys don’t seem so on edge all the time now that there’s some feminine presence in the hallways.”

“Is that all it takes? For women to walk through a hallway for guys to calm down and stop being at each other’s throats all the time?” Haruka gives him a small smile, but Sousuke catches it anyway.

“Basically. We’re men, we are simple creatures to please.” He shrugs, leaning back into the back of his seat. “Honestly, you should have seen the swim team before you girls joined. That damn Uozumi was borderline desperate for any girl to even look in his direction.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“It really is.” Sousuke chuckles, “Even though Rin won’t admit, you girls also caused him to ease up on us guys too. I guess he doesn’t want to yell and raise his voice as much with girls around.”

“Why? We can handle it.” Haruka counters.

“I guess he doesn’t want to scare off Rei with his yelling.” Sousuke blurts out, and his face instantly turns into one full of regret. 

“Really? Rei, really?” Haruka raises an eyebrow, getting a bit protective of her friend.

Sousuke sighs slowly and scratches the back of his head, “Oh man, Rin’s going to kill me.” A few seconds later, he just shrugs his shoulders and continues his conversation, “Oh well, you didn’t hear it from me.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” Haruka retorts, causing Sousuke to laugh lightly at her. He opens his mouth to respond, but gets excited when the waitress comes back with two plates in both her hands. She quickly hands them two glasses of water and places their plates in front of them before quickly bowing and leaving as soon as she came.

“Ah, these look delicious.” Sousuke says to himself, mouth beginning to salivate at the sight of his steaming food.

Haruka peers across the table at his plate, “What are those?”

“They’re crepes. I was in a mood for these today and I don’t think I’ll regret it.” Sousuke quickly unwraps his napkin and pulls out the fork to take a quick taste.

“Hmmm?” Haruka still looks curious, but decides to take a bite of her own food. Her usual, mackerel with miso soup and a side of rice.

“They’re kind of like...thin pancakes? You can fill them or top them with different ingredients, but the strawberry and whipped cream ones are my favorite.” He says, stuffing another forkful into his mouth. 

“I have to admit, they do look good.”

“Want to taste it?” Sousuke offers.

Haruka almost instantly gives him an incredulous look, “What?”

“Oh come on, you won’t know if you like it unless you try it. These are very regular ingredients, nothing too crazy.” He counters, “I’m sorry they don’t have mackerel-filled crepes. I don’t think so at least.”

“I don’t _have_ to eat mackerel, it’s just a preference.” Haruka defends herself.

“Alright then.” Sousuke takes the knife that’s still wrapped in the napkin and quickly cuts a smaller piece of crepe from his plate. He tops it off with a strawberry piece before stabbing it with his fork, stretching his arm across the table and waves it in Haruka’s face. “Here. try it.”

When Haruka opens her mouth to decline his offering, he quickly stuffs the fork into her mouth, causing her to gag in surprise. Sousuke can’t help but laugh when Haruka begins to give his food a dry chew, complete with an extremely scorned, yet contemplative face.

“That was….interesting.” She says, finally swallowing the last remaining pieces of the crepe in her mouth.

“Interesting as in you would order it again?” Sousuke asks.

“Maybe.” She says, “I’m starting to miss the taste of mackerel though.” 

“Alright, alright. At least you tried it.” Sousuke smiles at her and then continues eating his food once again. When Haruka’s brain just replayed what happened, she realizes that she and Sousuke just shared the same fork without even noticing. Whether or not he realizes it, they had...what Nagisa calls...an _indirect kiss_ and the thought causes Haruka to blush a bit.

Sousuke looks up from his plate momentarily, “What’s wrong, Haruka? You feeling okay?”

“I’m alright. Don’t worry.”

“Oh okay, just making sure you’re not regretting going out to breakfast with me or something.” He says, half-jokingly. 

“No Sousuke, I’m having a really good time.” She admits, “I’m really happy being with you.”

When he hears Haruka’s honest words, he can’t help but feel his own heart skip a beat. He definitely couldn’t resist smiling at her again, “I’m glad. I feel happy when you’re with me too.”

Haruka opens her mouth to respond, but her phone begins to light and vibrate on the cafe table. Haruka gives a quick glance at the caller ID and her eyes widen before swiftly answering the call. She says a quick sorry to Sousuke, before stepping outside to the front of the cafe to have some privacy. 

From his seat, he can see Haruka standing on the sidewalk, a worried expression painted all over her features. He compares her reaction from when she got the call from her parents and it is a complete 180 turnaround. Compared to her earlier irritated and annoyed expression, this one was considerably much more sullen and sorrowful, so he could only sit and wonder what was being said on the other side of the receiver. 

A few moments later, he sees Haruka rush back into the cafe and walk towards the table, a panicked look on her face. She tries to hide it by the time she arrives at the table though, not knowing that Sousuke has already seen her true emotions that lie beneath the facade.

“Ah-- Sousuke, I’m sorry. I got a call for a family emergency and I have to go right now.” Haruka apologizes, quickly grabbing her purse and digging through her wallet for some cash to give Sousuke. “You can go back to Samezuka, but could you drop me off at the bus stop?”

She hands over some cash, but Sousuke immediately pushes her hand away. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll cover the bill. After all, I’m the one who asked you out here in the first place.”

“Are you sure?” Haruka still looks concerned.

“Of course.” Sousuke digs in his own wallet and pulls out enough money to cover both meals and a tip. “--And where are you doing? Don’t worry about the bus, I’ll take you.”

Haruka immediately frowns, “You don’t need to do that. I’ll be okay on the bus.”

“It’s no problem, I don’t mind. Plus, it’s the middle of fall so I wouldn’t want you to stand out there in the cold.” Sousuke stands up, grabbing his own jacket from the back of his seat. “Let me take you there, I insist on it.”

Haruka contemplates arguing further, but after seeing Sousuke’s epic determination on his face, she decides to give up. She exhales slowly, “You’re not going to let up, are you?”

“Of course not.” Sousuke says determinedly, “Let’s hurry and go to the car.”

Haruka wordlessly follows Sousuke back to his car and when he unlocks it, she hurriedly sits in her claimed passenger seat and pulls out her phone again. Sousuke starts the car once more and waves of heat blasts both of their faces.

“So, where are we going?” Sousuke asks, adjusting his rear view car mirror a few inches. “You don’t have to tell me everything, but at least give me a vague idea of what’s going on.”

Haruka avoids eye contact with Sousuke, instead focusing on random objects Rin has left on Sousuke’s car floor. When she realizes Sousuke is not going to put the car in drive until he gets some information, she finally decides to speak. “That one time….”

Haruka pauses and gathers her thoughts, “When Rin saw me on the bus stop, I was going to see my grandmother in the hospital. She’s still in the hospital now and the doctor asked to speak to me, so she is waiting for me for the consultation.” 

“That was your grandmother on the phone?”

Haruka simply nods at his question, “Yes.”

“I’m sorry, Haruka. I know that’s not something you would want to hear.” He says, but Haruka nearly shakes her head at his sympathetic apology. “What hospital is she in? I’ll drive you there.”

“Marukawa General Hospital. It’s not that far from here.” She answers, running a free hand through her hair absentmindedly.

Sousuke merely nods, then shifts the car into reverse, backing up and heading out onto the main street. There is silence in the car and in his peripheral vision, he can see Haruka’s face in the reflection of his passenger window. Her pretty face is now full of contemplation and worry and Sousuke can’t help but feel a little pain in his chest. She’s so deep in thought that she doesn’t even notice Sousuke passing glances her way. Sousuke thinks its his imagination when he hears Haruka make a sound, although barely audible, which almost sounded like a whimper. His suspicions are quickly confirmed and his body temporarily freezes when he sees Haruka quickly wipe away premature tears from the corners of her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. 

Sousuke pauses for a moment, mind racing of things to say to Haruka to make her feel better. Well, it wasn’t _what_ to say, but rather _how_ to say them to her. Admittedly, he wasn’t the person most in touch with his own feelings, but he can’t feel a bit empathetic when it came to Haruka. Exchanging glances between Haruka and the road, he decides to keep quiet and instead let the car fill with soft music from his stereo with the occasional GPS direction. Within another five minutes, Sousuke finally pulls up to the visitor parking lot and shifts his car into park.

Finally speaking up, Sousuke grabs his keys from the ignition and turns towards Haruka, “Looks like we’re here.” 

“Yeah.” Her voices cracks a bit, but she continues to pretend it didn’t and that he didn’t notice. With all the thoughts in her mind, it’s all she manages to say.

“If you would like some privacy, I could stay here in the car.” Sousuke begins, “It’s not a problem, really.”

“No, it wouldn’t be fair. You drove me all the way here.” Haruka finally looks up at Sousuke and locks eyes with him, almost as if she was communicating telepathically with him through her eye movements. Makoto had mentioned it passively in conversation before, but today, he finally saw what she had meant by her earlier comment. _I want you to come with me._

“Alright.” Sousuke agrees, quickly unbuckling his seatbelt and waits for Haruka to get out of the car. He silently follows her to the front of the hospital, her pace full of focus and practiced routine. When the sliding doors open, Haruka approaches the front desk and politely asks the head nurse for her grandmother’s room number while signing them both into the clipboard on the table.

“Good Morning, Nanase-san. Your grandmother hasn’t stopped talking about you since you last visited.” The nurse greets her, giving her a bright smile.

Haruka bows to the nurse, “Ah, thank you for taking care of her.” 

“She’s delightful, she really is.” The nurse’s eyes fixate on Haruka, “She doesn’t give me any trouble, unlike a lot of my other patients. She has nothing but good things to say about you. You must be her favorite grandchild.” She winks at her playfully.

Haruka gives the nurse a light smile, “I’m actually her only grandchild.”

“She’s very lucky to have you.” The nurse’s eyes shine a bit, “She’s in room 416 if you were looking for her.” 

“Thank you so much.” Haruka thanks her, and Sousuke joins her with a small bow.

“I’ll see you around, Nanase-san….and nice to meet your friend too.” The nurse’s gaze flash from Haruka and up to Sousuke for a brief moment, smiling at them both.

Haruka and Sousuke wait for the nurse to pass by them before walking their way through what seems like an endless maze to a hallway to the sign pointing to the elevator. Haruka huffs, pressing the ‘up’ button and waits along Sousuke for the up arrow to illuminate above their heads. 

Sousuke turns to her, “I don’t even know how you found this elevator to be honest. You’d think it would be in the front.”

“I come here a lot.” Haruka shrugs nonchalantly, and Sousuke decides it was a dumb comment to make in the first place. He scolds himself, telling his brain to think before he starts saying insensitive comments.

There’s a slight silence between the two, aside from the randomized commotion and chatter amongst the other families visiting the hospital and the employees. After what seems like an eternity, the elevator door finally opens and they both step on.

Haruka quickly presses the ‘4’ button and the doors shut, and for some reason Sousuke feels as if his nerves are on edge. He shifts uncomfortably next to Haruka, and obviously, she notices how nervous he is beginning to act.

“Grandma isn’t scary.” She says, eyes focused on the elevator door. “No need to be nervous.”

Sousuke glances down at Haruka, “I can’t help it. There’s just something creepy about hospitals. Nobody ever leaves this place with a smile on their face.”

_You have reached the fourth floor._

“I can see what you’re saying. I think even the nurses are faking their smiles.” She says, stepping through the open door. “Alright, this is our floor.”

Sousuke gives a light chuckle before stepping through the door himself, following closely behind Haruka and she leads the way down to her grandmother’s room. Her eyes are studiously scanning the passing room numbers, until she finally sees 416. Sousuke’s palms immediately begin to sweat when Haruka stops, and Haruka shoots him a comforting glance before quietly knocking on the door frame, alerting her grandmother of her presence.

When Sousuke walks in, he sees Haruka’s grandma’s face switch from happiness to shock at his sudden intrusion. Sousuke thinks she’s a very cute old woman, her face similar to Haruka’s, except complete with more wrinkles and tired eyes. She’s sitting upright in her hospital bed, her lap full of layers of white hospital blankets and a larger, purple knitted blanket on top of those. When they lock eyes, her grandmother gives him a warm smile too. 

“Good morning, grandma. Sorry if I’m a little early. This is my--” Haruka says, walking in and gives her grandma a tight hug. “--friend, Sousuke.” 

Both Sousuke and Haruka’s grandma can’t help but laugh a bit Haruka’s hesitation at her introduction of Sousuke. “It’s nice to meet you, Nanase-san.” Sousuke says, bowing to her politely.

“Sousuke drove me here, grandma. That’s why I’m early.” Haruka clarifies.

Her grandmother looks up at Sousuke, and beckons him with her free hand. “Come closer, Sou-chan.”

His eye twitches a bit at the childish nickname, but he lets it go and does what she says anyway, walking towards her bedside. He is immediately caught by surprise when she gently grabs his hand with hers, “Thank you for taking my granddaughter to see little old me. I don’t mean to be a bother to you too.”

“Nanase-san, It’s no problem at all. Don’t worry about, I’ll help Haruka any way I can.” Sousuke reassures her, placing his hand on top of hers gently. The scene makes Haruka smile and her chest can’t help but feel a bit warm.

“Please call me Miyako.” She corrects him, and he nods in agreement. 

A few moments later, another knock on the door frame causes all their attention to shift towards that direction. The doctor smiles and gives a small wave to the crowd of people in the room before stepping in and sitting in a nearby chair. 

“Good morning, everyone.” He says, pulling out a piece of paper in his clipboard and folder. “Miyako-san, how are you feeling today?”

“A little better since my granddaughter and her friend came to visit me.” She smiles, causing both Haruka and Sousuke to smile too.

“Things are running a little hectic today as we are little short-staffed, so I’ll have to make this meeting a bit brief.” He says, getting straight to the point. “Please feel free to sit down as well.”

“I’ll wait outside the door, Haruka.” Sousuke offers, “For some privacy. I don’t want to intrude.” When Haruka gives a nod, Sousuke steps outside the door and closes it, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the silent uneasiness plastered over Haruka’s face.

Luckily for Sousuke, there was a wooden bench right across the hallway, so he saunters over to the seat and lets out an exaggerated exhale as he sits. Not that he minds, but this wasn’t exactly how he thought he would spend his spare Sunday on the rare occasion Rin didn’t require everyone to go to practice. However, knowing Rin, he knows that he will still probably go swimming anyway. Usually, even on his days off, Sousuke ends up joining him, but when he saw how broken Haruka’s face was when she received the call in the cafe, he couldn’t help the clenching feeling in his chest.

Sousuke can’t exactly pinpoint the exact moment or day he started feeling protective over Haruka, but he was very self-aware of his crush on her. Was it the day in the library where he found the random guy trying to make moves on her? Was it the day he overheard the guys on the swim team brainstorm ways to ask out the other four girls on the team? Or maybe it was the day he caught the other students looking at Haruka with lust in their eyes when she walked down the hallway? Perhaps, maybe, he feels a bit silly for getting overprotective over someone that isn’t even _his_ to begin with, but he can’t control himself. When she looks up at him with those crystal clear blue eyes, it makes his heart stir. When she gracefully glides through the water, but at the same time, so full of poise and power, he can’t but feel a heat rush over his body. This isn’t the first time Sousuke had felt attracted to a girl, but this sure as hell was the first time a girl made him feel this way. These novel feelings, were exactly that, _novel_ and it drove him crazy that for the first time in his life, he doesn’t know what to say or do. He has always been there for her ever since the first time they met, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her down now. Not when she needs it’s the _most._

From where he is sitting, he can’t really make out any clear, concise words, but he is starting to feel a bit anxious anyway. He tries to distract himself, grabbing random magazines from a nearby rack, flipping through them mindlessly. When he can’t seem to focus, he slides his phone from his pocket and begins scrolling through various social media sites and casual games, but he can’t seem to get his mind into it. There are so many ideas and thoughts running through his mind, he can’t focus on anything else but the hospital room in front of him and it’s driving him insane.

After a few moments, Sousuke’s head snaps to the door as it slides open with a little more force than necessary. He can’t help but feel his heart sink when he sees Haruka emerge from the room, looking absolutely _destroyed._. Haruka leans forward and places her palms on her knees. She’s breathing very heavy and quickly, almost as if she’s having a panic attack, immediately striking panic into Sousuke himself. He immediately jumps up from the bench and places his hand on Haruka’s back, attempting to soothe her.

“Haruka!” Sousuke shouts, full of concern, “Haruka! Are you okay? Take even, slow breaths.”

“I’m--” She begins, “I’m trying.” She says between breaths. Suddenly, it feels like there isn’t enough space or oxygen in the room, and she feels her vision begin to spin.

“Go sit down, Haruka.” Sousuke guides Haruka to the bench where he was sitting, carefully placing his hand back on her, trying to calm her breathing. “Whatever happened, it’ll be okay. Don’t worry, I’m here for you.”

Haruka leans forward, placing her elbows on the tops of her knees and she buries her head into her palms, rubbing her eyes. Eventually, her breathing calms and Sousuke is able to relax a tiny, tiny bit. 

“Do you want some water? I can go get you some if you want.” Sousuke hesitantly takes a seat beside her, “....Or, I can go call Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa so they can come pick you up?” He also offers.

A few moments later, Haruka finally raises her head from her hands, facing her body towards Sousuke, but she still averts his gaze. “No, don’t call them. I’ll be fine.” 

“Are you sure?” Sousuke can see Haruka’s face was even paler than usual, but the areas where her eyes are puffy and red. 

“Yeah.” Haruka chokes out, “I just need to calm down a bit.”

“....Yeah.” Sousuke rubs the small of her back gently, “Calm down before you hurt yourself, Haruka.”

“I just need some fresh air for a moment.” Haruka says, standing up suddenly. “I’ll be right back, just going outside for a moment to recollect myself. Tell grandma I’ll be back in ten minutes.” 

“Alright.” Sousuke wants to tell Haruka to don’t go by herself because it’s dangerous, but he knows clearly that she is the type to want to be alone when she is upset. He doesn’t want to tread into dangerous waters, and right now, he felt like he was right in the middle of the rapids leading to the highest waterfall. He wonders what exactly the doctor told her, but after seeing her breakdown, he isn’t sure he wants to know anymore.


	7. plan c

When Haruka disappeared from view, Sousuke got up from the bench and cautiously walked over to the door. He knocked carefully, “Miyako-san? May I come in?” 

“Please come in and sit.”

The moment he enters, he can’t help but feel a bit uneasy at the residual tension in the room, but he feels a bit calmed at Haruka’s grandmother smiling at him, patting the chair next to the bed. 

“Haruka stepped outside for a bit, but she’ll be back soon.” Sousuke pulls the chair back to allow himself to sit in it, but he still remains close to her. “I thought it was best to give her some space and time to calm down a bit.”

“She took the news pretty hard, huh?” She blinks.

“Uh-- I guess you could say that.” Sousuke tries to choose his words wisely to try not to worry Miyako. “Is everything okay?”

“For me, everything is fine. The doctor didn’t tell me good news from my CAT scan I had a few weeks ago, but I’ve accepted it. The doctor can’t tell me anything I don’t already feel.” She tries to joke, but Sousuke still looks at her full of concern. “I don’t know if Haruka told you this, but I have cancer.”

Sousuke’s eyes widen in shock and suddenly, he feels as if the wind has been knocked out of him. “I’m….I’m so sorry.” He manages to stutter out.

“Don’t be.” She smiles, “I’m almost 80 years old, I’ve lived my life plenty.”

He finds himself speechless once again, “Still….”

Miyako gives a long exhale, “Knowing my granddaughter, she will probably take the news the hardest. I know that she will take the burden upon herself as usual.”

“She told me the two of you are very close.” He tries to smile at her. Although he had not control over it, he can’t help but feel a bit guilty or pity towards her.

“You and Haruka also seem very close. I’ve raised her ever since she was a wee little one and this is the first time she’s ever introduced me to a boy, nevertheless even mentioned one.” Miyako chuckles, lowering her hand to the floor imitating Haruka’s baby height.

“I guess you could say that. We are classmates and we are on the same swim team.” Sousuke laughs, scratching the back of his head nervously. “I care about Haruka a lot, though.” He admits.

His confession makes Miyako smile wide, “I can tell by the way you look at her when she’s not paying attention.” Sousuke almost immediately blushes.

Miyako clears her throat, “Let me tell you a short story Sou-chan.”

“Alright.” He leans back a bit in his chair.

“Haruka’s parents, including my own daughter, were too busy with their careers so they basically handed her to me when she was a toddler. Since then, they have went their separate ways, not even stopping by for holidays. I think that on some years, they didn’t even call or send her a birthday card. It’s almost as if they didn’t even have a child, or if they did, they completely forgot.”

Sousuke swallows hard, “That must have been really rough on her. I know she mentioned she had issues with her parents, but I didn’t know it ran that deep.”

“I love my granddaughter very, very much, but thank the lord they only had one child.” She pauses, “Everything she knows, I have done my best to teach her. Everything she wanted, I tried my best to get for her. I wanted her to grow up knowing that somebody loved and cared for her, despite what her parents actions have done to her mentally. The years and years of knowing that her parents willingly left her has cultivated almost a sense of abandonment issues within her, and I feel like my diagnosis is only heightening it.”

“But it’s not her fault.” Sousuke complains, “She can’t let what her parents did to her dictate her future.”

“My husband, before he passed many years ago, was a fisherman. Every morning, he would take Haruka on his boat while he caught some fish, usually mackerel.” She pauses when she hears Sousuke laugh next to her. “Everyday, he would come home and tell me that she would always try to jump into the water. That’s how I enrolled her into swimming to begin with.”

“Yes, she told me you were the reason she began swimming in the first place.”

“She was such a natural prodigy, I encouraged her to go everyday. I could tell she really loved the freedom swimming brought to her .I feel like it cleared her mind from all the negative stress she was facing, so it became therapeutic in a way.” She smiles at Sousuke, “She has so much talent, I think -- I know she can achieve greater things. She just has to believe in herself as much as I believe in her.”

“I believe she has great talent too. When I watch her swim, it makes me want to become strong like her.” Sousuke admits, “She’s my inspiration.”

“Have you told her that?” Miyako questions, but Sousuke merely shakes his head at her.

“You should tell her.” She instructs, “It’ll be tough on Haruka, I know it will. I don’t want to spend my last days knowing that she’ll be worried about me...but I know she will get through it because you are by her side.”

Sousuke begins to feel a bit choked up at her words, “Thank you so much. I’ll do my best to support her now and in the future. Thank you for sharing this with me, I really appreciate it.”

“She doesn’t open up to that many people.” She says, “It’s just how she’s always been. She must see something in you. Although I just met you today, Sousuke-chan, I can tell you’re a good guy. Please treat my Haruka well.”

“You talk as if I won’t see you again, Miyako-san.” Sousuke gives her a small smile.

“Who really knows, though?” She pauses, “When my time will finally come.”

“I’ll definitely see you again.” It wasn’t a suggestion or a question, but rather a definitive answer to her open-ended question. If the family blood runs strong, he knows that Miyako and Haruka’s strength lies beneath their gentle exteriors, and for sure, he will see her for many more days, weeks, _years_ to come.

When a knock on the door frame disperses the easy energy in the room, Sousuke and Miyako both turn their attention towards that direction. Haruka stands there, saying nothing, but face full of many unspoken emotions and words.

“Sousuke, I’m ready to go.” Haruka clears her throat, but her voice still a bit raspy and broken. She walks over to her grandmother’s bedside and intertwines her hand with her smaller one, “I’ll see you soon, grandma.”

Miyako’s face immediately frowns, “Haruka…” Her grip on Haruka’s hand tightens.

“--I’m alright, grandma.” She already knows what she is going to say before it even escapes her grandmother’s lips, “I’m alright...I’ll _be_ alright, anyway. You should worry about yourself.”

“You’re my granddaughter, how can I not be worried about you?” She reaches over and ruffles Haruka’s hair lightly, “You just concentrate on your swimming and studies, now. Just know that grandma is here cheering you on all the way.”

Haruka’s eyes well up with tears and Sousuke watches as she wipes them away quickly with her free hand. “I love you, grandma.” Her voice cracks a bit, “So much.” 

"I love you too, Haruka. Don't you ever forget it." Miyako lightly cups Haruka's face, bringing even the slightest bit of comfort to the young girl. 

Haruka exhales, slowly pushing her chair back and walks over to the door frame. "I'm ready to go Sousuke."

"Alright." Sousuke rises from his chair as well, giving one final wave to Miyako before joining Haruka in the hallway. Haruka walks briskly through the hallways and chooses to take the staircase instead of the elevator, quickly trotting down the steps in a rhythmic pattern.

Despite his extremely athletic conditioning to cardio exercises, even Sousuke begins to find himself out of breath trying to keep up with Haruka practically running out of the hospital. When they finally arrive on the first floor, Haruka hurriedly opens the door from the staircase and hurriedly heads towards to entrance doors, barely stopping for the automatic doors to slide open.

When Haruka's foot hits the asphalt pavement of the parking lot before Sousuke even goes through the hospital doors, he decides that he's had enough. He jogs up behind Haruka and quickly grabs onto her wrist from behind, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Haruka..." Sousuke's voice causes her body to tense up, "Why are you walking so fast? What exactly are you running away from?"

"Could you please...just take me home?" Haruka's voice mistakenly shakes in the midst of her question.

Deciding not to prod any further, Sousuke reluctantly lets go of her wrist and walks beside her in silence until they reach his car in the parking lot. He wordlessly unlocks the car door and Haruka hurriedly sits in the passenger seat, immediately buckling her seat belt. She can feel Sousuke's eyes burying into her silently, so she decides its best she just stares at the floor instead.

Sousuke sighs, slowly turning his key in the ignition for the umpteenth time that day, soft music beginning to stream through his speakers. 

"It's been a long day, let's go home Haruka."

//////////////////////////////////

If Sousuke were to describe Haruka with any adjective in the world, it would have to be courageous. Courageous, as in, testing the boundaries of both Rin and the school attendance policy. Ever since he dropped her off at her dorm room on Sunday evening, he hasn't seen Haruka all week, including his classes and swim classes. He figured that she would would skip a few days to recuperate for a bit, but a whole week? She was really pushing the limits here.

If there's one thing you cannot describe Sousuke as, however, is non-persistent. He tried every form of communication he had available at his disposal to get into contact with Haruka. Plan A consisted of texting and calling Haruka, often when the teachers backs were turned or on his lunch break. It wasn't anything threatening, just minor updates to what she had missed in class or swim practices, trying to see if he would even get one reply. Plan B consisted of knocking on her door constantly betwen classes, much to the dismay of Makoto and the other neighboring roommates. He even tried approaching Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei during lunch and after swim practice asking where Haruka was, but all they could do was shrug and act ignorant, as if Haruka asked them to cover for her actions. Besides, if he had to hear Rin's bitching and moaning about Haruka miss practice for one more day, he thinks he might rip out his own eardrums himself. Not only was she missing practice, but the girl's regional swim meet was coming up soon and now definitely was not the time to be slacking. Almost out of options, at least viable ones he could think of, Sousuke resorts to plan C. If Haruka's friends won't tell him where she is, then he'll have to work his way around that. 

After the last class before lunch begins, he spies Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa walking to the cafeteria together. After following them at a safe distance, he decides to put his acting skills to the test and quickly shouts Makoto's name to catch her attention in the hallway.

Makoto, as well as the other two girls, turn around and are surprised to see Sousuke jogging up to them with a puzzled expression on his face. "Hi, Sousuke. You need me for something?"

His neurons are processing his lies at 1000 miles an hour at the point, trying to come up with with a smooth transition from his brain to his mouth. "Uh yeah, I needed to text Rin where to meet him for lunch, but I forgot to charge my phone last night and it died. Could I borrow yours for a minute?"

"Sure, it's no problem." Makoto gives a very Makoto-esque smile and hands Sousuke her phone that was sitting idly in her purse. 

"Thanks." Sousuke says, quickly grabbing her phone and scrolls through the screen until he sees the messaging icon. Of course, the first pinned messages at the top of her inbox were from Haruka, so at least he knows she's still alive and breathing, which meant that she was just ignoring him to the fullest extent. He quickly glances up, seeing Makoto distracted with talking to Rei and Nagisa, and then quickly opens Makoto's open conversation thread with Haruka.

 _Haruka, are you in the room? I forgot my keys so could you open the door for me? I'll be there in five minutes._

He nervously presses send, hoping Haruka was actually here on campus. Much to his surprise, he gets a response almost immediately.

_You always forget your keys. I unlocked the door for you._

Sousuke can't help but feel a bit giddy that his little slick plan worked, but he almost forgets to erase the evidence before he hands the phone back to Makoto. He quickly deletes the mini conversation between him and Haruka, then places the phone back in Makoto's purse.

"Thanks again, Makoto." Sousuke gives her a smile, "See you all at practice!"

Sousuke waves at the girls politely before turning on his heels and jogs towards the exit of the building. When he is finally outside, he quickly bolts towards the dorms before Haruka could change her mind and lock the door. Running up to the door on the girl's level that reads "Tachibana & Nanase", he knocks out of routine before turning the knob.

When he enters, he sees Haruka sitting at her desk with a study lamp on, her back facing the door. "I tried looking for your keys, but I couldn't find them. Are you sure you don't have them?" Haruka asks, not turning around from whatever she was working diligently on at her desk.

Sousuke can feel his heart beat faster. At first, he thinks it's the residual effects from his jogging, but then he realizes its from seeing Haruka for the first time in almost a week. He doesn't say anything, but quietly closes the door behind him and tries to catch his breath.

"Makoto?" Haruka asks after she doesn't get a reply, then her eyes widen when she turns around and sees the intruder at the door.

"Sousuke, what are you doing here?" Haruka asks incredulously.

Although Sousuke was happy to see her, he can't help but feel a bit resentful. "Why have you been ignoring my calls? My texts? I even came by and knocked on your door countless times. I look like damn obsessive maniac or something." 

"Get out." She warns, "I don't want to see you."

Her words sting Sousuke's heart a bit, but he decides to fight past it. "I just wanted to see if you were still alive. You haven't been coming to swim practice."

"You were only concerned for my swimming practice attendance? Good to know." Haruka says bitterly. 

"You've also been missing class and our homework meetups." Sousuke pointed out, "I've been doing the assignments and putting both our names on it anyway, but the teacher still notices you're missing from class."

"I'll do the rest of the assignments for the year by myself to make up for it." Haruka proposes, "If you only came to hound me about swimming and schoolwork, then you can leave now." She begins to push Sousuke's body towards the door, but he stands his ground and doesn't budge.

"It's not about that." Sousuke answers honestly, "Haruka, I was so worried about you. When you ignored me with everything I did, I didn't know what to do. I still don't know what to do."

"You don't need to do anything except leave." Haruka says bitterly, "I want you to leave."

"What did I do for you to ignore me like this?" Sousuke's voice comes out more hurt than he intended, but it caused Haruka to stop pushing his body towards the door. "Why are you pushing me away from you after we have gotten so close? What did I do?"

Haruka exhales and looks away, avoiding eye contact with the hurt taller man in front of her. "You didn't do anything." She says reluctantly.

"Then, why?"

"That's the thing --" Haruka still looks away from him, "-- As you said, we've gotten really close since we first met each other."

"...And?"

"Everyone that becomes close to me ends up leaving me in the end." Haruka blurts out, "They leave me here, alone.....my parents, my grandparents, and eventually, you will too."

When Sousuke says nothing, Haruka fills the silence in the room. "You'd think I'd get used to it after a while, but it still hurts. I don't want to be hurt anymore." 

Sousuke looks down at Haruka, "So you think it's best for us to separate before we get to close?" 

Haruka continues to stare down at the floor, but she slowly nods, eyes closing to prevent any tears that began to form from falling down her face.

"If you mean it, then look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want to see me anymore." Sousuke says solemnly, "Then I will leave you alone, I promise."

He doesn't know what he is saying or any false promises he just proposed to make, but he hopes in his heart that he doesn't regret what he just said. He can't exactly explain it in words or even put an exact pinpoint on it, but he can feel his heart physically hurt and his chest heavy. His palms are clammy and he could practically hear his heartbeat in his ears with the deafening silence in the room. The few seconds it took Haruka to process and think of what to say began to feel like hours to Sousuke.

Haruka can't get her mouth to say the words Sousuke asked her to say. Her mind and her heart are so conflicted, it's causing her emotions to spiral into disarray once again. Ever since she met Sousuke on her first day at Samezuka, she feels as if the world she knew had been turned upside down. Sousuke was the only man that had stuck around her even after she gives them initial cold shoulder when she first meets them. Sousuke was able to look past the qualities others have demeaned her for in the past, and focused on the good. He saw her for who she truly was, despite the ugly sides she might have let slip through the cracks. Not only that, but Sousuke saw her at her weakest moments and _still_ supported her and stuck by her side when she needed him the most. When others would falter, Sousuke stepped up to the plate and consistently stood strong, despite her fears. She had spent the entire week cooped up by herself, barely eating and showering, and even barely talking to Makoto, her own roommate and best friend. Would she..... _could she_ even push away one of her last sources of support? She let her tears fall.

When Sousuke hears a small whimper from Haruka and tears running down her face, he can't help but step forward and envelope her with his arms. He pulls her body close to his, slowly stroking her hair to calm the smaller girl who was on the verge of breaking down in his arms once again.

"I don't want you to go." Haruka admits quietly, voices muffled a bit from being pressed against Sousuke's clothing. "I want you to stay with me."

Sousuke can feel his own emotions begin to well up in his heart. “Thank you for sharing something so personal with me, Haruka.” He paused for a moment, arm snaking around Haru’s waist gently. "I'll stay for as long you'll keep me around."

Haruka pulls her head away from him for a minute, “What are you going on about?” 

Sousuke smiled back softly, “All the people in the world...and you chose me.” He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, “I'm happy being with you. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time.” He smiled.

She reached up and wiped away her own tears, “Honestly? How can you say such embarassing things so easily?” 

He arched his neck downwards so his teal eyes could meet her cerulean ones, “I don’t think its embarassing to express how you truly feel. It’s almost cathartic in a way.”

“I’m not used to being so emotionally vulnerable I guess. It’s a weird feeling.” Haruka paused, “All of my life, I’ve had to be tough, both emotionally and physically, for myself and others. It’s a little hard for me to get accustomed to this change. It’s hard for me to trust people.” 

Sousuke’s grip on her tightened subconsciously, as if he was trying to offer her reassurance and support. “Please don’t feel as if you have to go through things alone anymore. You can lean on me. You can _trust_ me.” He emphasized. “I’ll always be here for you.”

With eyes glazed with more tears that didn’t fall, Haruka locked eyes with Sousuke, her heart beating faster by the second. “Always?” She questioned.

“Always.” He answered with no hesitation. “I like you, Haruka.” He declared suddenly, making her eyes widen in surprise. If her heart wasn’t beating fast before, it definitely was now. 

It’s not that he hasn’t thought about his emotions for her before, but this time, his mouth spoke what his heart truly felt, free of any fear from potential consequences or repercussions. Before his mind could process what was going on, he found the words escaping his lips.

He smiled at her lovingly, before continuing, “I have for a while now and I was planning on telling you soon. I was just….trying to find the perfect moment to say it.” 

“So, right now is the perfect moment for you?” She teases playfully.

Sousuke lets go of her waist and brings his hands up to lightly brush away any residual tears in her eyes. "Of course it is."

"Idiot." Haruka says, giving Sousuke a genuine smile for the first time that day. After being caught in the moment, Haruka feels a rush of courage flow through her veins. She carefully balances herself on the tips of her toes, leaning forward and placing a chaste, innocent kiss on Sousuke's lips. "I like you too, Sousuke."

Haruka places her feet firmly back on the ground and smiles when she sees Sousuke's eyes widen in shock from her abrupt actions. When she opens her mouth to say something else, little does she know that Sousuke is always one step ahead of her. He bends down, capturing her lips with his once again, this time, less innocently than the first, but it certainly wouldn't be the last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the sap but i live for it  
> i finally fuckin wrote the damn kiss and i couldnt be more proud of my bf sousuke  
> have yall seen the new season 3 of free!? sousuke looking like a whole damn thanksgiving dinner my boyyy my hubss


	8. admissions

“I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think Makoto?” Rin asks, shoveling another bite of food into his mouth. After he couldn’t find Sousuke for lunch, he decided to sit with Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa inside the cafeteria. Makoto had bought some lunch to take to Haruka in their dorm room so she was missing for a few minutes, but she immediately caused a scene when she burst through the doors minutes later with a flustered look on her face.

“I’m _not_ being dramatic, I really feel like I’m going to explode!” Makoto says, her face reddening by the second.

“Tell us, Mako-chan! What happened?” Nagisa is obviously the noisiest of the bunch.

Makoto hurriedly sets her bookbag down on the spare seat next to Nagisa and sits down, attempting to catch her breath. “Well you see, I tried to take Haruka her homework and some lunch food to our room, like I have been doing all week….” She pauses when she sees Rin scowling at her from across the table.

“You told me you didn’t know where she was.” Rin’s voice was the most accusatory it’s been.

“All of you.” He frowned into his sandwich when he saw Nagisa shrug nonchalantly and Rei and Makoto just give him a nervous laugh. 

“Sorry Rin-chan, Haru-chan always comes first and we promised! We are loyal!” Nagisa explains and it only causes Rin to frown even further. “Go ahead, finish your story Mako-chan.”

Makoto turns back to face everyone, “So, I just open the door like I usually do and I--” She gulps dramatically before continuing, “I--- I saw Haru and Sousuke kissing in the room!”

If people weren’t staring at the group of friends when Makoto burst through the cafeteria doors, they definitely were now when Rin began shouting and Nagisa spitting her drink all over Rei in surprise, who then, obviously, screamed in shock for both.

“What the fuck? No way! I can’t believe he actually did it, that guy…” Rin was still shouting from across the table, but then turned to help Rei clean up the drink Nagisa spit all over her uniform with his spare napkin.

“Rin, you knew about this? You knew Sousuke was going to do this?” Makoto asks worriedly.

“Are you sure you saw that correctly, Mako-chan?” Nagisa said, eyes gleaming with excitement and cheeks pink with the utmost enthusiasm. “What did they say when they saw you standing there?”

Makoto waves her hands in denial, “They didn’t see me! I opened and shut the door pretty quietly….freaking out by myself…. I even dropped the food on the floor right outside our door, I was so shocked!.” She covers her face with her hands in embarrassment.

Rei removes her glasses and begins to wipe them with the spare napkin Rin gave her, “I’m really happy for Haru, I really am! I’m glad they both feel the same way about each other.” 

“So when are we going to ambush them and confront them?” Nagisa says mischievously to the dismay of everyone else at the table.

“Nagisa, _no._ ” Makoto groans, “Haru can’t know that we all know about her and Sousuke, she will probably shrivel up from embarrassment…..especially if she knows that I saw them... kissing.” She gulps at the last part of her sentence.

“Makoto is right, Nagisa. Haru will have to tell us on her own time, whenever she is ready.” Rei finishes up wiping her glasses and places them back on the bridge of her nose, adjusting them to the perfect placement.

‘“Yeah, which is never!” Nagisa complains, “We’ll all be dead and gone by the time Haru-chan admits this!”

Rin slaps his hand down on the table dramatically, causing them to look at him questionably, “Nagisa is right! I want to bust Sousuke’s balls the first moment I see him!”

“Right, Rin-chan!” Nagisa exclaims, giving Rin a high-five from across the table.

Makoto sighs, “You guys give me the biggest headache.”

Nagisa turns back to face Rin, “Can you imagine the two of them on a date? Do you think Haru-chan would be big on PDA with Sou-chan?”

“No way, Nagisa!” Rin laughs, “They did go out for breakfast that one day though, so didn’t they technically have a date already?”

Rei clears her throat slightly, “Haru told us that she explicitly stated that it wasn’t a date to Sousuke. So, unless it is mutual, I don’t think it counts.”

“We shouldn’t prod in their business.” Makoto frowns from across the table.

“Stop being such a goody-goody Makoto, this is the juiciest thing that has happened this year. This is so exciting!” Nagisa elbows Makoto playfully in her side.

“You make it sound weird when you call it ‘juicy’.” Makoto mutters under her breath, giving Nagisa a side-eye before unwrapping her own lunch before the period ended.

////////////////////////////////////////////

Haruka sighs as she mindlessly browses the the internet. How could she even focus after everything that has happened today? Sousuke had left her a few minutes ago so he could go to his last class, so she was left alone in the deadly silent room with only her thoughts. Even with him gone, she couldn’t figure out a way to slow down her heartbeat whenever she thought about his lips on hers. Well actually, _her_ lips on _his_ , and she’s still trying to fight in the internal embarrassment of letting her emotions get the best of her when she kissed him first.

She glances at the corner of her laptop and sees its almost 5:00. Makoto should be home any minute now, so she tries her best to maintain her calm as if nothing happened. As if on cue, Haruka heard a knock on their door. 

After a few seconds, Makoto hesitated on coming through the door, eyes focusing on the ground. “Hey, Haru. You alright?” She says, cheeks getting redder by the second.

Haruka raises an eyebrow, “Yeah….why did you knock like you don’t live here too? You never do that.”

“I uh-- I just didn’t want to interrupt in case you were doing something important.” Makoto stutters out, but she has never really been a good liar. Technically, it was more a white lie more than anything.

“Why aren’t you looking at me?” Haruka frowns, continuing to question her best friend. “Why do you look guilty?”

Makoto feels a cold chill run down her spine, “G-guilty? I don’t know what I would be guilty for…” Makoto practiced what she was going to say to Haruka her whole way home, but the moment she stepped through the door, it all went out the window.

“Good afternoon, Haru.” Rei says, pushing open the door and Nagisa follows shortly after and waves at Haruka.

“Woah, Makoto looks so red and embarrassed!” Nagisa remarks excitedly, “You told Haru-chan you saw her and Sou-chan kissing?”

Haruka’s face turns into pure mortification and horror, while Makoto nearly jumps out of her skin, “Nagisa!” Makoto exclaims, grabbing her own face in embarrassment.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” Rei sighs, “Nagisa, you just had to say it. We agreed to _not_ do this just a few hours ago!” 

Nagisa frowns, “Well _sorry_ , but I just can’t help myself. I want to know all the details! We’re not getting any younger and time is ticking!”

Makoto feels like crying, but she still manages to apologize to Haruka. “Haru, I’m sorry but I came back at lunch to give your lunch, then I accidentally saw you two…. You know….” She trailed off, analyzing Haruka’s face for any sign or response, but she hardly saw any besides a deep pink painting her usually pale features.

“How much did you see?” Haruka manages to ask despite all the horror she felt on the inside.

“I just saw the kiss...nothing before or after.” Makoto immediately defends herself, “I left as soon as I came, I swear!” 

Haruka exhales slowly, rubbing her face in attempt to return her skin back to its normal complexion. “Well, since you already know….yes, Sousuke and I confessed and kissed.” 

“You kissed him or he kissed you?” Nagisa asks intrigued.

“Does it matter?” Haruka frowns.

Nagisa sighs, “Of course it matters! The order matters! I want to know the details!” She prods further.

“He confessed first and I kissed him first. That’s all I’m saying.” 

Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa all collectively gasp at the same time, in shock and awe of the hidden courage lying beneath the exterior of their usually calm, stoic friend. The same friend, which they might add, has never _ever_ talked about having an interest in any boy, much less one of the most popular ones in Samezuka.

“Haru-chan, I’m so proud of you!” Nagisa gleams with her eyes beginning to water full of pride, “Claiming your man upfront!”

Haruka frowns at Nagisa, “Stop calling him my man, Nagisa. It’s not even that serious.”

“But it _is_ that serious, Haru-chan!” Nagisa corrects her, “This is a big day in your life and we’re all really excited for you!”

“I’m going to leave if we keep talking about this.” Haruka deadpanned.

“Go ahead and leave, you have to come back eventually. You sleep here!” Nagisa laughs as she latches onto the side of Haruka’s arm. At that moment, Haruka could automatically tell this was going to be a long night.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sousuke, per his usual routine, fishes out his dorm room keys on his student ID lanyard and casually unlocks the door. He walks through and unlike his usual routine, he instantly came face-to-face with a certain over-enthusiastic redheaded friend of his.

Sousuke cautiously walks past Rin and places his book bag on the floor next to his study desk. “What are you smiling so hard about, Rin?”

“Nothing.” Rin continues to smile goofily at his friend, “Nothing at all.”

“Well stop it, it’s freaking me out.” He says, shrugging off his uniformed blazer and throwing it in the clothes hamper. 

Rin laughs at him, “Sorry, sorry.”

Sousuke turns around and raises an eyebrow at Rin, “For real though, what are you so giddy for?” 

Ever since he heard the news of Haruka and Sousuke getting together, Rin felt like a dam ready to burst at any moment. Right now, seeing Sousuke act so nonchalant as if nothing important happened today, made water begin to leak out from the cracks. “Did you have a good day today?” He asks vaguely, a sly smirk plastered all over his face.

Still suspicious, Sousuke almost reluctantly turns his back to him to finish changing his clothes into something more comfortable. “It was alright.”

“Only alright?”

“Yeah?”

“Is that so?” You could practically hear the smugness in Rin’s voice and Sousuke didn’t like it at all.

Sousuke turns around to face Rin, “What are you getting at?”

Although he promised Makoto and Rei not to say anything, the only thing that ran through his mind at that moment was a quick _fuck it_ and he opened his mouth anyway. “So you finally, _finally_ made a move on Haru, huh Sou?”

Now _this_ caught Sousuke’s attention and he turned around so swiftly he almost gave himself whiplash, “What?”

“I’m not saying from who, but I heard a rumor that you and Haruka kissed today.” Rin pauses, analyzing signs of emotions from his friend’s face. “Is that true?”

Sousuke sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “So Haruka already told Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa, huh? I figured, but not necessarily this fast.”

“I never said I heard it from them.” Rin clarifies, but technically he’s not really lying. “I said I heard it from ‘someone’ .” 

“Hmm…” Sousuke gives a noncommittal grunt. Sousuke knows Haruka's whole social interaction circle, and it just happened to consist of only those three.

“Congrats, Sou. I’m proud of you.” Rin raises his hand to playfully ruffle Sousuke’s hair.

“You make it seem as if I won some type of award or something.” Sousuke chuckles lightly, swatting his hand away playfully.

“You got the girl didn’t you? It’s kind of like an award.”

“I did.” Sousuke gives a small smile to Rin, “It was mutual actually. She told me she liked me too….and she kissed me first. I was really surprised.”

“Awww, Sou.” Rin coos playfully, causing Sousuke to suck his teeth in irritation at his childhood friend. “So she’s officially your girlfriend, then?”

“No, it didn’t go that far. We haven’t even gone on an “official” date.” Sousuke uses air quotes with his fingers, “But if I call it a date, she might get nervous like how she did when I took her out for breakfast.” 

Rin yells and snaps his fingers suddenly, causing Sousuke to look up at him in surprise. “I got it, Sou!” 

“What?”

“You with Haru and me with Rei!” Rin smiles in excitement as if he’s reached the ultimate epiphany.

“Not following…” Sousuke says cautiously.

Rin sighs and sits down on the foot of his bed, “A double date with all four of us, Sou! So we both get what we want, but also, it also won’t make Haru nervous because Rei is there with her.”

Sousuke lets out a hearty laugh, “...And here you said that you were still trying to choose between Makoto and Rei. I see you’ve made up your mind fairly quickly.”

Sousuke’s comment leaves a slight blush on Rin’s face, “Shut up! They’re all really nice, beautiful girls...even that nerve-grating Nagisa has her good points. I’ve just spent the most time with Rei when I helped her with different strokes after practice was over.”

“Out of the kindness of your heart right?” Sousuke laughs, causing Rin to frown.

“Shut up, I didn’t have ulterior motives! It’s just the way things turned out over time, you know. I’m sure you can relate with how your relationship began with Haru.” Rin points out.

“I guess you have a point.” 

“So what do you think?” Rin asks.

Sousuke turns to face Rin, “I think it’s a great idea.” He smirks once more, “Let me go and call Haruka. I’m sure all four of them are together anyways.”

He digs in his school bag and pulls out his cell phone, quickly clearing his notifications on the top of his screen. He doesn’t really care _who_ texted or called him, but they would have to wait anyway. Sousuke opens his address book and scrolls to Haruka’s name, quickly tapping the green telephone icon.

After a few rings, his pulse picks up a bit when he hears Haruka’s voice on the end of the line. “Hello?” She asks curiously.

Sousuke immediately perks up, “Haru, hey! You busy? Can you talk right now?”

Haruka can’t help but smile at how happy he sounds on the other side of the line, “Yeah, I can talk. Everyone is just hanging around in my dorm as usual so sorry if it’s a little loud in the background.” 

Sousuke smiles too, “No….actually, that’s perfect!”

“Hmm? Did you need something from them? From me?” Haruka asks.

Almost for no reason at all, Sousuke suddenly feels all the confidence he just had a few minutes talking with Rin drain his body as quickly as it entered. He pulls his ear away from the receiver, shooting Rin a wild and questioning look. 

Rin stands up immediately, mirroring Sousuke’s nervousness and his panicked face. He dramatically gestures towards the phone Sousuke was holding and whispers only loudly enough that Sousuke could hear, “What the hell? What’s the problem, just ask already!”

“Yeah, easy for you to say.” Sousuke bites back, but still in a harsh whisper. 

“Holy shit, just do it! It’s not that hard!” Rin scolds his friend.

“Says the guy sitting around supervising and not on the phone!” Sousuke says a bit louder than he intended and Haruka ends up looking at her phone in confusion.

“Sousuke, you there? I can't hear what you're saying.” She asks.

He quickly puts the phone back to his ears, trying to calm his nerves as fast as he can. “Uh, yeah -- sorry about that. Rin was distracting me with something.” He says, ignoring Rin’s accusatory glare from across the room.”

“It’s fine.” Haruka gives a light chuckle and hearing her laugh calms Sousuke down a bit more.

Sousuke nervously fidgets with the creases on his jeans, “I uh -- I was just wondering if -- uh….you were free tonight?” He is most definitely embarrassed with the way he completed obliterated that sentence that managed to escape his lips. He had some much confidence around Haruka before when he invited her to go to breakfast with him, but things just seem different this time around. Is it because there is more on the line? Is it because it's a group date? If anything, it's probably because they just got finished sharing their first kiss less than an hour ago.

Haruka pauses for a moment, “Yeah, I’m free. We were just planning on staying in tonight anyway. I’m sure the girls won’t mind if I step out.” 

“Does that “we” include Rei?” Sousuke turns to face Rin, who motions him quickly to put it on speaker phone.

“Rei?” Haruka asks incredulously.

“Yeah, Rei. Your friend Rei.” Sousuke clarifies further, pressing the speakerphone button and walks closer to where Rin was standing.

“--Well yeah we’re both free since we were planning on being here all night. Why are you asking?” Haruka asks suspiciously.

“I -- well, Rin and I were wondering if you two would like to go out with us tonight.” Sousuke says it a bit fast, but he’s glad he’s finally got the idea out in the open. It might have been out in the open, but it was still up in the air. Plus, Haruka’s dead silence on the phone wasn’t helping him much.

“Haruka?” Sousuke asks if she’s still there.

“Yeah, I’m here.” She says calmly, “I had to mute the microphone to ask Rei. It’s a good thing I did though, your ears might have burst.” 

“What?” 

“All three of them pretty much screamed when I told them what you asked me. It hurt my ears just to be in the same room.” Haruka says calmly, but he can tell she is giggling softly on the other end.

Sousuke chuckles, “I hope it was a good scream, then?”

“It was. She’s really excited, but don’t tell Rin that.” Haruka isn’t able to see Rin and Sousuke high-fiving each other in their own dorm room. 

“I won’t. So, see you at 7? 8?” 

“7:00 is fine.” Haruka smiles, checking in with Rei to make sure the time is okay with her too. “Where are we going?”

“I’ll just say it’s a surprise for now.” Sousuke smiled and Haruka could tell by the tone in his voice. It technically wasn’t a lie since Sousuke and Rin didn’t even decide on a place yet, so it really was a surprise for all four of them.

“Alright, see you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had this chapter half-ready for a while now, i just haven't had a chance to post it, sorry for the wait!!  
> im just excited to see more sousuke in the upcoming free! episode tbh


	9. salmon burgers

“How does this look?” Sousuke gives Rin a quick spin-around of his outfit as he looks at himself in the mirror.

Rin smirks, “It looks like you’re either begging Haru to stare at your chest or your shirt is missing some buttons.”

A light blush forms on Sousuke’s cheeks from his friend’s taunts, “Oi, shut up. It’s not even like that.” He turns back around to face the body length mirror in their room. 

“It’s not?” Rin raises an eyebrow, “You guys could have fooled me.”

“Don’t embarrass us on the first date, Rin.” Sousuke frowns at his red-headed friend lounging on the bed nonchalantly, “....and are you wearing that?” He side-eyes Rin from his reflection in the mirror. 

“What do you mean _that?_ ” This time, it was Rin’s turn to frown, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Your clothes are so tight...it’s like if you were to sneeze you might rip out of both your shirt and pants.” Sousuke chuckles as his teases clearly irritate Rin, who quickly sits up from his position on the bed.

Rin’s frown only deepens, “My clothes are literally _always_ tight. It’s not my fault you don’t notice! It’s not even a big deal.”

Sousuke laughs audibly at him, “You sure are defensive for something that’s not a big deal.” 

Rin opens his mouth to give a smart remark, but a series of knocks interrupts their conversation, causing them to both turn around in slight panic. “Shit, man. We’re messing up already by being late.”

“We’re not late, they’re just early.” Sousuke says, turning back around to adjust his outfit even further in the mirror. “Get the door, Rin.”

Rin lazily rolls from his position on the bed and obediently answers the door. A mischievous grin spreads across his face when he glances at the two girls standing in his doorway. “So eager to see us that you come early, huh girls?” He teases lightly.

Haruka immediately frowns, “Rei, we’re leaving.” She grabs her friend’s wrist and begins tugging her back in the direction of their dorm room.

Rin hurriedly jogs down the short distance they traveled in the hallway and grabs both of their arms lightly, “Aw, come on, Haru. I was just teasing.”  
He hears Haruka grumble something under her breath and roll her eyes, but he stops feeling the tension in her wrist. Rin relaxes at them both and gives them an earnest smile, “You girls look beautiful, by the way.”

A light blush sprinkles across Rei’s features, while Haru’s expression remains unchanged. “Thanks.” Haruka says in the place for both of them. As soon as they walk back to Rin’s dorm room, Sousuke steps outside, locking the door behind him and handing Rin his wallet and phone. 

He shifts to face Haruka and Rei, giving his signature smile, “Sorry for the delay, you guys. Hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s alright.” Haruka answers politely.

“Hey, Haruka.” Sousuke walks up to her, flashing her his signature smile. 

Haruka returns the favor and reciprocates a small smile, “Hey.” It’s a simple greeting, but Sousuke can hear the happiness hidden behind her words. He walks up to her tentatively, hesitating before leaning down and giving a chaste, yet gentle, kiss on her cheek, much to the dismay of his two friends standing in the hall staring at the pair.

Rin makes exaggerated gagging noises, “Get a room you guys. We haven’t even left yet.”

Sousuke shoots him a sly smirk in his direction, “Jealous, are we?”

“In your dreams, loverboy.” Rin chuckles a bit before turning his attention towards both Haru and Rei, “You girls ready to go?”

“Where are we going?” Rei asks.

“It’s a surprise!” Rin responds cheerfully, “Sou’s driving though. I hope you both have life insurance policies.”

Sousuke immediately frowns, “Oi, my driving isn’t even bad. You do a lot of shit-talking for someone who doesn’t even have a license.”

“I do have a license, I just don’t have a car!” Rin clarifies, “Besides, you don’t need a license to feel like your life is endangered.” Rin tries to one-up him, causing him to shoot dirty looks in Rin’s directions.

When Sousuke opens his mouth to give another smart-assed retort, Rei quickly interjects, “Now, now, I’m sure Sousuke’s driving is great! Let’s go before we come back too late and miss curfew?”

///////////////////

The car ride was shorter than what Haruka and Rei expected. With their nerves still a bit jittery from being asked out in the first place, Rei slightly panicked when it came to choosing the seats to ride in the car. She ended up grabbing Haruka’s wrist and pushing them both into the backseat, while Rin took the passenger front seat. 

The ride itself was full of mostly playful banter between Rin and Rei while Sousuke focused on the road and Haruka stared at the scenery from the window. Sometimes, however, Haruka felt her heart flutter when she would take the occasional break from window-gazing and glance at Sousuke, who she would always catch staring at her from the rear view mirror. She gives him a light smile, silently telling him she knows he is looking at her, and she can see the curve of his smile from the backseat. It makes her heart flutter, not that she would ever admit that openly of course.

When Sousuke finally pulls into the parking lot, Haruka pokes her head outside the window and glances at the sign. “Iwatobi...Burger...and Steakhouse…” She reads out loud.

Sousuke turns to face her, “I know you only eat fish--” He corrects himself, “--Mackerel... But I thought you might enjoy a dietary change once in a while.”

Rin turns around too, “Yeah, Sou warned me about it when I brought up the idea….but we just wanted to go somewhere nice and casual, but still affordable. I mean if you really don’t want --”

“--It’s fine.” Haruka interrupts, “The restaurant….it’s fine. I will eat whatever.” 

The four of them quickly makes their way to the front door of the restaurant and quickly fill in a nearby table. There’s surprisingly a lot of people in the small establishment, a bit noisier than what Haruka is used to being around, but it provides an overall comfortable atmosphere. 

“So…” Rin breaks the short silence, “You guys ready for the tournament in a few weeks? The four of you have been working really hard to perfect your relay timing.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Rei pouts, “I’m so nervous thinking about it. There are so many “what-if” scenarios running through my mind…”

“You can’t have a scientific theory for every possible outcome, Rei. Just try your best and it will turn out just fine.” Rin attempts to comfort her, “You too, Haru. You will do just great.”

“Did you have tournaments at your old high school?” Sousuke speaks up finally.

“We had a few. Nothing major.” Haruka mutters quietly, but Rei is quick to jump in for clarification. 

“Nothing major? Haruka, you won first place in the tournament every year! You always got the fastest time for your freestyle!” Rei corrects her, but Haruka says nothing.

“No need to be ashamed or hide something you’re good at Haruka, you should be proud! It’s a great accomplishment!” Rin joins in alongside Rei.

“...But that was all individual. This is my first team relay in high school.” Haruka shakes her head and averts her gaze out the window once more.

Sousuke grasps her hand and gives a light squeeze, “Have more confidence, Haru….in both yourself and your teammates. Believe in yourself the same way I believe in you.”

Haruka can feel a light heat rush to her cheeks, but she doesn’t pull her hand away from his, “I’ll try my best. For everyone…” She gives a light smile at the end, making him smile too.

“Well I’d hate to break up this touching moment, but I’m really starving here.” Rin sighs as he leans back in his seat. He quickly shuffles some papers around on the edge of the table and pulls out a few slips of paper.

“Here, they have the different types of burgers and toppings and you just circle what you want on it and any sides. Then, you just bring it up to the front! It’s great and you don’t have to deal with servers!” He says excitedly.

Rei’s mouth turns agape, “Wow! I’ve never been to a place like this before! This is interesting!” She smiles. 

“Isn’t it? This place is awesome, Sou & I come here every couple of weeks when we have time!” Rin says while expertly circling his memorized order on the paper. “We always order the same thing. Just take your time and we will bring it up to the front for you gals.” 

After a few moments of brief contemplation, Rei and Haruka finish circling their papers and place them in the center of the table. 

“I’ll go put the orders in, you guys sit tight.” Sousuke says, shifting out of his seat and gathering the orders in his hands. In a few seconds, he is out of sight and takes his place in the line behind the other waiting customers. 

Suddenly, Rin gasps and digs in his jacket pocket, “Aw, I forgot to give him my credit card before he got up.” 

“I’ll take it to him!” Rei volunteers, but Rin looks reluctant.

“Nah, it’s cool. I can get up and do it.”

“No, I can do it! I wanted to go to the bathroom anyway.” Rei insists and eventually, Rin gives up and hands it over to her. She hurriedly scampers away and Haruka watches her exchange with Sousuke before heading in the back to the restroom.

“So…..I guess it’s just you and I now, Haruka.” Rin says with a devilish smirk, showing off his infamous sharky smile.

Almost immediately, Haruka feels a bit uneasy at the face Rin was making towards her, “.....And so it is.”

“So, spill it.”

“Excuse me?” Haruka raises an eyebrow at Rin from across the table.

“Spill it.” Rin repeats, “Like you know….the gossip! You know….the ‘tea’ as it’s called nowadays! With you and Sou…”

“There’s nothing “to spill.” Everything is just fine.” Haruka defends herself.

Rin sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “Bleh, you guys really are a perfect match for each other….so secretive about the intimate details of your relationship.” 

Haruka’s mind hesitates at Rin’s conjunctive use of the words ‘intimate’ and ‘relationship’, and decides it’s best to just stay quiet and wait for both Rei and Sousuke to return to save her from her nosy, prodding swim team captain.

After a few moments of silence, Rin finally speaks up, “Sousuke really likes you, you know….”

“Huh?” Rin’s words are making Haruka blush, and it’s only making her even more and more flustered by the second.

“Sousuke! He really likes you.” He repeats once more, “I’ve never seen his face light up around anyone the same way it does around you. Sometimes, I glance at him when we are in our dorm room and he just smiles at his phone….and I know that’s when he is talking to you, obviously.” This time, Rin puts down his villain facade and his face becomes more gentle.

“...I really like him too.” Haruka finally admits it, but she immediately shifts her gaze towards the table to avoid whatever face Rin is currently making at her right now. She can picture it in her mind, but she’s rather not see the shit-eating grin plastered on his face.  
“I know, I can tell.” Rin smiles at Haruka, and it only flusters her even more.

“See, like I said, perfect for each other!” Rin laughs a bit loudly and slaps his hand on the table, “I’m glad though. When I heard Samezuka was opening their doors for both women and men, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. But now I’m seeing sides to my best friend that I haven’t seen before, but it’s for the better.”

This peaks Haruka’s interest and she finally meets gazes with Rin so he decides to continue his story, “Before, all he used to care about was swimming and training. But now, it’s swimming, training, and _you_. I mean, I’ve seen lots of people, both boys and girls, try to ask him out but he always denies them. I’m glad to see someone he’s genuinely interested in….and like swimming, or everything he is passionate about, he puts his whole mind, body, and soul into it. It hasn’t been that long, but I can feel it.”

“Thank you Rin.” Haruka finally smiles at him back, “That made me really happy…. _I’m_ happy.”

“Happy about what?” A voice from behind them interrupts their serious heart-to-heart chat. It’s Sousuke and Rei with their faces looking as inquisitive as ever. 

“You guys looked so serious. What’s up?” Rei asks, sitting back down next to Haruka.

“Nothing, nothing.” Rin tries to sweep the subject under the proverbial rug, “Give me my card back you thief.” He says jokingly, trying to change the subject to a lighter note. “What took you guys so long?”

“It’s gotta be something, you have Haru here flustered and smiling.” Sousuke raises an eyebrow at his friend. 

Rin’s glance darts from Haruka back to Sousuke very quickly, “I was just telling her about the time we went to the movies and you got lost in the theater. This guy is so bad with directions, I’m telling you. The invention of the smartphone was the saving grace for this guy!” He says, causing everyone at the table but Sousuke to laugh.

“Oi, shut up. That’s a stressful time for me.” Sousuke frowns, returning to his seat next to Rin, and Rei, next to Haruka.

After a few moments of idle chatter and laughter, one of the employees arrives to their table, two plates of food resting on each of his arms. “Here’s your order, two double cheeseburgers, one regular cheeseburger, and one…...salmon burger!” He struggles reading the order stickers placed on each of the food baskets.

“Salmon burger, really?” Rin deadpans at Haru.

“....They didn’t have mackerel.” She defends herself, “It’s something different still.”

Sousuke bellows out a hearty laugh, “Never change, Haruka.” The others join in on teasing her, but deep down she knows it is all in good fun. Seeing Sousuke being able to joke around with her and tease her so openly makes her feel closer to him than she would ever admit.

“...So, you girls ready for the big swim meet next week? There’s going to be so many scouts there, it’s the perfect opportunity to show how talented you are!” Rin says, excitedly taking a mouthful of his burger into his mouth.

“Don’t say that, Rin. You’re going to make us nervous!” Rei’s pupils widen as the smirk on Rin’s face only grows.

“People perform best under pressure.” Rin responds nonchalantly.

Sousuke chuckles a bit, “People or just you, Rin?” He takes a bite of his own burger this time.

“If you wanted us to perform our best, should you really be taking us out to for greasy food?” Haruka raises an eyebrow. 

“Getting snarky with me, Haru?” Rin smirks, “You’re getting too comfortable with us.” 

“Whatever.” Haruka shrugs, but everyone at the table knows she means well.

Rin shovels some fries into his mouth next, “But seriously, if you’re considering swimming after leaving high school, this is your chance to shine. For all four of you.”

“Seriously, Rin? Right after Rei said you were making her nervous?” Sousuke elbows Rin in the side, causing the other man to frown at his friend.

“I’m talking right now as a captain!” He defends himself, “You can’t tell me you three haven’t thought about your future and plans for the upcoming years.”

Rei hesitates to answer, “I have….but nothing definitive. As much as I love swimming, I’m still undecided between competing or studying full time.”

“You have enough talent and dedication to go pro, Rei. But no matter which road you pick, I’m sure you’ll do well. You’re a quick learner and you always give everything 100%.” The way the compliments roll of Rin’s tongue makes it look easy, but it was causing Rei’s mind to short circuit. 

Rei blushed hard, “I uh-- Thanks, Rin. I think I’m a pretty average swimmer, I’m not sure how well I’d do against a college-level team.” 

“You should give yourself more credit, Rei.” Sousuke chimes in.

Rei adjusts her glasses and pushes them further up the bridge of her nose, “I’m not sure if any of the girls on the team are seriously considering swimming in college. If anyone, it would be you, Haru.” She says, turning towards her friend.

When all of the attention is suddenly shifted towards her and three pairs of eyes are suddenly glued to her for her response, Haruka began to feel uneasy. “I haven’t really…..thought about it.” She hesitates.

“Is that so? Graduation is coming up pretty soon and you haven’t thought about it yet?” Rin asks.

“If you need help Haru, I can assist in researching some colleges and programs for you.” Rei begins, “That is, if you want to pursue a degree and not swim full-time.”

Haruka remains silent and blinks quickly at Sousuke, who is also remaining silent and waiting for her response. “I’ll have to take some time to seriously think about it. What about you two?” She tries to shift the attention back towards the boys and away from herself.

“Swimming, of course! It’s the only option!” Rin answers enthusiastically. 

Sousuke chuckles at his friend, but his smile slowly fades and he turns his attention back towards Haru. “I hope to get scouted so I can swim professionally, but in case that doesn’t work out, I’ve applied to colleges too.”

Haruka’s eyes widen in surprise, but in the back of her mind, why is she surprised at all? It’s a subject that she and Sousuke have never talked about, but it was the lingering elephant in the room. Their time together is running shorter and shorter by the day, but would their recently united paths soon separate? It was a fleeting thought in the stream of Haruka’s mind, but she starts to feel a weight in her chest growing by the minute.

She is quickly snapped back to reality when she hears Sousuke calling her name from across the table. He slowly reaches across and loosely takes her hand within his, “What’s going through your mind? You can tell me.” It’s the second time he’s done it that day, but it doesn’t make it any less special to her. His hand is so much larger and warmer than hers, but somehow, still delivers a gentle, soothing touch.

“It’s nothing.” It’s a lie, and they both know it, but they silently, but also mutually decide it’s a topic best-saved for another day.   
Sousuke slowly retracts his hand, but gives Haruka a reassuring nod and small smile, “Let’s finish our food while it’s hot, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe it's been months since I updated this? I'm really bad I KNOW IM SORRY. I've had this chapter half-written for like 2 months now....but I wasn't really sure on how I wanted to proceed with the story. I have a lot of ideas, but different outcomes affect the length of the fic and blahblahblah it's probably longer than I originally intended. After waiting this long, I have an idea but we shall see.
> 
> Thanks for all the words of encouragement this far! I read every single one xoxo <3


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